


a thousand lives spent together

by PEGCHANGMIN



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: (with the occasional steamier fluff), Action & Romance, Fluff, M/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23314384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PEGCHANGMIN/pseuds/PEGCHANGMIN
Summary: A collection of stand alone one-shots documenting the relationship between Chani and Seokwoo.
Relationships: Kang Chanhee | Chani/Kim Seokwoo | Rowoon
Comments: 60
Kudos: 97





	1. coffee shop au

**Author's Note:**

> in order to counteract all the nsfw content i've been writing/consuming, i've decided to write copious amounts of rochan fluff because i love these boys so damn much ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡ to break out of my habit of only being able to write extensively long fic, each one-shot will be around 1k words (with a maximum of 2k). while majority of these chapters are fluff oriented, there are a few chapters that include more action/non-graphic violence, so please heed the warnings for certain chapters!
> 
> **i'm also taking requests :0 i'll write any cute rochan scenario you would like me to, given that the prompt is sfw, so leave any requests in the comments section!**

**(coffee shop first date)**

Chani nervously adjusts the lapel of his glossy vinyl jacket — lovingly borrowed from Taeyang hyung’s closet — and looks over his outfit for the nth time in his full length mirror. He can’t remember the last time he was this excited for a date, and the butterflies in his stomach have been a constant for the last few hours or so. Chani sighs, checking himself out one last time before making his way over to the cafe they agreed to meet at. 

The entire time he feels flustered all over despite the cool nip of the autumn breeze, shoving his hands in his pocket as he increases the speed of his strides. He wants to make a good impression so badly, he really doesn’t want to mess this up; especially given how his last relationship ended. 

They agreed to meet up at a cute little cafe in the heart of Seoul, with good online ratings and a cozy, rustic, interior. Out of nervous habit, Chani is 10 minutes early, and is in the middle of typing out a text message announcing his punctuality, when he realizes he’s been beat because _his date was also 10 minutes early._ Chani immediately freezes, looking up from his phone to survey the cafe clients, trying to spot out where his date could possibly be, and — 

— oh. 

The online photos really don’t do him any justice. 

His date is standing right in front of him, and he looks like the personification of a _puppy._ The second thing Chani notices is how tall he is, nearly towering over Chani. He looks like he stepped out of a romance drama or something: he’s wearing an incredibly fond expression, eyes crinkling at the corner as he amorously smiles at Chani. 

“Kang Chani?” 

Chani’s never seen anyone more handsome in his entire life. 

“Are you Seokwoo?” He finally beckons his voice, managing a few words. 

Seokwoo nods, his hair looking impossibly soft, bouncing as he speaks. “When I saw your photos online, I thought you were cute, but I didn’t think you’d be this much cuter in real life.” 

Chani can’t breathe. Chani’s heart starts pounding against his ribcage at what feels like a hundred miles a minute, barely managing to sputter out a “ _thank you, you too”_. He almost doesn’t register the two of them lining up to order drinks. Seokwoo orders a vanilla latte, and Chani panics when he finally realizes he has to speak to the cashier, impulsively ordering strawberry milk. 

They pick out a spot beside the windows, and Chani’s mind is hyper fixated at how the sun filters through the windowpane, casting Seokwoo in the loveliest glow and accentuating his beautifully tanned skin. They’ve already gone over the basics: their favourite foods, family, jobs, hobbies, childhood, and education. Chani is enamoured with everything about Seokwoo, realizing he’s never fallen this hard for someone _this_ quickly before. Distantly, he follows the curve of Seokwoo’s mouth, enjoying the way it seems to form words and string together questions. Chani’s brain is still trying to decipher how in the world he got so lucky, to be seated across from the most handsome person alive, that he forgets to respond to Seokwoo. 

For the first time since the start of their date, Seokwoo looks nervous. “Did I do something wrong? I hope I haven’t done anything to make you feel uncomfortable.” He looks like a wounded puppy, and immediately Chani feels like he’s been punched in the gut.

“Ah, no!” Chani’s mouth finally catches up with his brain, the words spilling out. “I’m sorry, I just still can’t believe I’m here. With someone like you.” 

“Someone like me?” 

“Someone as handsome as you.” 

A pretty flush settles on Seokwoo’s cheeks, suddenly looking shy, almost as if he’s never been complimented in his life before. “Really?”

Chani finally feels more at ease, settling back into his usual persona. “Oh come on, don’t act like no one has never told you you’re impossibly handsome before.” He quips. 

Seokwoo shyly laughs, looking down at his cup. “I’ve been complimented in the past, but never by someone as cute as you.” He says, softly looking up at Chani. 

Chani blushes _hard,_ opening his mouth but at a complete loss for words. “What?” 

“You’re so adorable, oh my god.” Seokwoo comments, loving the way Chani blushes harder. “And you look so dashing today, god, this may be forward and sudden, but I’ve never wanted to kiss someone more in my life.” 

Chani stops functioning, hands immediately covering his face because _he can’t stop blushing._ “Speak for yourself.” He mutters, words muffled by his hands. His heart is pounding again because _oh my god, Seokwoo just said he wanted to kiss him_. Seokwoo’s hands come up to gently remove Chani’s hands from his face, making a soft noise at how flustered Chani looks. Seokwoo’s eyes get all sparkly, mouth curling up at the corners as he’s unable to tear his gaze off Chani.

“Can I kiss you?” Seokwoo’s voice goes all deep and quiet. 

Chani is breathless. “Yes.” 

Seokwoo every so slightly leans across the table, hands moving to cup Chani’s face. Chani’s eyes flutter shut, and completely gives into the sensation of Seokwoo softly kissing him. It isn’t rough or hurried, but Chani can feel how much love and passion Seokwoo is putting into the kiss. It’s slow and gentle, and almost feels like an eternity has passed when Seokwoo finally pulls away. 

Chani has never been more charmed in his entire life. 

Seokwoo makes a show out of dragging a finger across his bottom lip, never once breaking eye contact with Chani. “Hm. I was right.” 

“What?”

“Your lips are as soft as I imagined they would be.”

Chani groans, burying his face in his hands again, letting out a soft noise. “Seokwoo. You’re gonna kill me.” 

Seokwoo frowns. “That would be counterintuitive, wouldn’t it? Especially since I want to take you out on another date. Possibly many more in the future.” 

Chani smiles to himself, hands still covering his face. “I’d like that. I’d like it a lot.”

“Me too. I like you a lot, Chani.” 


	2. good guy au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inspired by the good guy mv!

Chani hates these kinds of social gatherings. 

He’s at a charity gala, the kind of event he would never voluntarily agree to go to, always persuaded by his father to come along and “socialize”. They’re the kind of events marketed as a charitable cause and created out of goodwill, though end up as nothing more than a gathering for stupidly rich individuals to jerk off their egos to the tune of whoever could donate the most money. Chani doesn’t mind being associated with his father, the CEO of a large agricultural corporation, though he shows little interest in his father’s line of work. The only vaguely redeemable aspect about the charity galas are their catering; gourmet food regularly priced at exorbitant amounts enticingly laid out on tables. 

Chani shifts uncomfortably in his spot, tired of following his father around for hours, having to plaster a smile whenever his father introduces him to socialite or businessman, perfectly reciting lines he’s memorized by this point. All the people he’s met have melded into a giant, confusing amalgamation of names and titles that Chani couldn’t care less to remember. 

“Mr. Kang! So glad you could make it tonight, I hope you’ve been enjoying everything.” A middle aged man approaches the two of them, opening his arms to give Chani’s father a hug. 

“Mr Kim!” Chani’s father reciprocates the hug, slapping Mr. Kim on the back. “Thank you so much for inviting us, everything looks amazing.” His father beckons to Chani, and he picks up on the cue to introduce himself. “Mr. Kim, this is my son —”

“— Kang Chani.” He finishes his father’s sentence seamlessly. “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Kim, my father talks about you all the time.” It’s a lie, of course, but Mr. Kim doesn’t need to know. “Thank you so much for inviting us tonight, your estate is lovely.” His father stands beside him, positively beaming with pride at his son. Chani holds out his hand for a handshake and Mr. Kim accepts. 

Mr. Kim looks impressed. “Mr. Kang, your son is absolutely delightful. Such a shame that he doesn’t want to follow in your footsteps, the business industry could really use someone as charismatic as he is.” Mr. Kim turns around, beckoning at another individual to join in on their conversation. “My son is here tonight as well.” 

The individual that just arrived smiles, revealing himself as Mr. Kim’s son. “Kim Seokwoo.” He introduces, shaking Mr. Kang’s hand. “I must echo my father’s words and hope everything here tonight is to your tastes. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me and I’ll accommodate anything.” He turns over to Chani. “Pleasure to meet you, Chani.” Seokwoo shakes Chani’s hand with a firm, confident grip. 

“Seokwoo will take over the company once I retire in a few years.” He says almost boastfully, slapping his son on the back. Seokwoo softly smiles at the praise before turning to Chani again. 

Chani meets Seokwoo’s gaze and feels a spark of electricity jolt up his spine. Seokwoo holds himself with an air of confidence and dignity, a far cry from the pretentious and hot headed personality typically found on company heirs. Yet, behind his confident persona, Chani notes a deeper emotion lingering beneath his gaze. Humanity and kindness, perhaps? Chani cocks his head to the side, noting the way Seokwoo’s eyes infinitesimally widen, full of a menagerie of emotions Chani can’t quite put a name to. He’s unlike anyone he’s ever met before, especially in this line of business. 

Needless to say, Seokwoo may be the single most interesting person Chani’s ever met at one of these boring, stuffy charity gala events. 

“I’d love to continue chatting, but we do have a few other guests to greet.” Mr. Kim finally says, snapping Chani back into reality. “It truly was nice seeing you again, Mr. Kang.” 

The two exchange farewells, Chani giving a small wave to Seokwoo as he watches the two of them walk away. 

Chani later picks up a flute of champagne from a waiter making rounds across the grand ballroom, suddenly feeling a prickly sensation settle under his skin, almost as if he’s being watched. He turns around, and finds himself staring at Seokwoo from across the room. 

Seokwoo has been staring at him, looking at him. Chani almost feels scrutinized under Seokwoo’s gaze, but surprisingly finds himself relishing the attention. The side of his lips quirk up, almost challengingly matching Seokwoo’s look before turning away. 

He and Seokwoo share four more glances that night. They all start and end the same way: one of them finds themselves staring at the other across the room, the other meets their gaze, and locks eyes until one of them breaks the connection. Chani’s _fascinated_ by Seokwoo, and wonders how in the world someone like him came out of such a ruthless and unforgiving industry. 

It’s nearing 10 pm, and Chani’s exhausted. He’s talked to all of his father’s business associates, some more than once, and wants nothing more than to go home and bury himself in his bedsheets. His father, however, is still animatedly chatting to _everyone,_ and continues to drag Chani around wherever he goes. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Seokwoo a meter away, quirking an eyebrow at him, beckoning Chani with his fingers. Chani pauses, before his curiosity gets the best of him and he finds himself excusing to go to the bathroom. 

He follows Seokwoo out of the ballroom, keeping a lengthy distance between them so as to not create any suspicion. Seokwoo leads him down an opulently furnished hallway, and up a flight of stairs to a quieter wing of the mansion. Chani has no idea where he’s being led, but strangely trusts Seokwoo. He enters a room with massive, elegantly carved wooden doors and finds Seokwoo sitting on the edge of a large desk in the middle of the room. 

Seokwoo smirks. “I didn’t think you were gonna follow me. But I’m happy you did.” 

The office is gorgeous: the walls are covered in walnut wood panelling, bookshelves stuffed to brim on either side of the room, with ambient and artificial lighting brightening the room. The decorations are lavish, from the stained glass windows to the antique lamps and ornate wood carving on the ceiling. And in the center of it all, is Seokwoo. 

It’s only then that Chani takes in Seokwoo’s sheer _beauty._ Chani is left breathless, taking in Seokwoo’s long legs, his elegant features and artfully styled hair. He’s wearing an expensive gray suit (designer, Chani’s mind helpfully supplies) that accentuates his body in all the right places, and Chani wonders how in the world it took him this long to realize how handsome Seokwoo is. 

“Why did you lead me here? Where are we?”

“We’re in my father’s study. I thought we could meet somewhere more … private.” 

Chani’s face immediately contorts in confusion. "Private?” 

Seokwoo stands up, crossing the length of the office in three efficient strides before grabbing Chani by the lapels of his blazer and pulling him in close. 

“You don’t know how badly I’ve wanted to kiss you all night.” Seokwoo’s voice gets all rough and gravely, pressing his lips against the curve of Chani’s ear. There it is. Chani’s body feels like a live wire, buzzing with energy and excitement. He doesn’t know how long it’s been since he last allowed himself to give into his desires, to enjoy things for once. 

His response is immediate. 

“How about you come and take what’s yours?” 

Seokwoo doesn’t need to be asked twice, hands still exercising a vice-like grip on Chani’s blazer. He shoves Chani against a wall, kissing him roughly. Chani lets out a squeak at the unexpected action, but completely submits to Seokwoo. Seokwoo kisses him like there’s nothing else in the world he was made to do, fervent and hot against Chani, however, there’s an undertone of softness. Chani melts at the sensation when they break apart for air, panting against one another. Seokwoo gazes into Chani’s eyes, though unlike the fervency of his kiss, his gaze is soft and longing, like Chani is the only other person in the world. 

It isn’t long before Seokwoo is hungry for another kiss, though this time, he kisses slow and languid. The kisses are open mouthed, and Chani feels a noise rising from the back of his throat. Seokwoo moves to kiss Chani’s jawline, and Chani nearly groans before their silence is interrupted by a phone ringer. 

Seokwoo curses, angrily huffing. “Not _now_.” He mutters under his breath, but reaches into his blazer to pick up the phone. “Dad? Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute. Okay, see you.” Seokwoo sighs.

“Duty calling?” Chani playfully asks. 

Seokwoo nods. “I gotta entertain some guests.” He looks hesitant. “I’m not usually this forward when it comes to attraction but,” he levels his gaze, “there’s just something about you that made me unable to help myself.” A pause.

Chani nods. “I feel the same way too.” 

Seokwoo cracks a grin, looking boyish and so much younger. “Do you think you can find your way back to the ballroom?” 

“I can follow you back, the same way I got here. I’ll be a couple meters behind you.” 

“I guess this is good-bye for now, huh?” Seokwoo says, before helping himself to a final kiss. This one is the softest, almost a brush against Chani’s lips. “I’ll see you sometime in the future.” 

With that, Seokwoo leaves in a flourish, exiting the room as if he had never entered. The only lingering traces of him are his cologne on Chani’s suit. 

Chani sighs, longingly and lovingly at the bookshelves before following Seokwoo back. 


	3. obsession au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning: strong language, some violence (however no graphic descriptions), (and due to the nature of an obsession au) very, very slight (non sexual) power play. 
> 
> inspired by exo's obsession mv and concept, along with [broken mirror](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457263) by [astroblemish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astroblemish/pseuds/astroblemish).
> 
> (going forward, this will probably be the most mature one-shot in this collection. i also broke my rule of a 2k word limit for this chapter as well, lol.)

“Lieutenant Kang, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Hweseung gasps, the lab assistant stopping to catch his breath in the hallway. “The final prototype is ready to be shown. Seunghyub wanted you to be the first one to see it, given your ties to the project in its early stages.” 

Chani’s eyebrows raise, mouth forming a perfect little “o” shape. He’s excited beyond belief, but controls his emotions, simply nodding and following Hweseung to the creation lab. 

The war against the Red Force has been brutal, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties of innocent civilians, and nearly destroying the framework of society. Chani is second in command of an armed rebellion assembled to dismantle the Red Force, but their efforts over the last few years have been paltry. It had been General Kim’s idea to create the perfect weapon: a synthetic human whose body and genetic material would be altered to be stronger, faster, and smarter than any regular human being.

General Kim said that a weapon like that would singlehandedly end the war. 

It was over a year ago when they first started working on the weapon, dozens of scientists assigned to help create the linchpin to save humanity. Hundreds of prototypes were created, all flawed in one way or another or chemically unstable. Chani has been waiting for this day for what feels like forever, after witnessing brutal massacre and near traumatic events for nearly his entire life. When he enters the laboratory, with its stark white walls and simple metal beds, he’s almost breathless when he lays his eyes on the final prototype for the first time. 

“Oh my god.” 

Hweseung smiles, looking small when standing next to Seunghyub. “Here he is. The final prototype.” 

The first thing he immediately notices is how  _ flawless  _ the prototype looks. His skin is smooth and unblemished, not a pore in sight. His facial features are soft and delicate, perfected to such an extent that Chani doesn’t think he’s seen anyone more immaculate than the prototype lying in front of him. From his full upper lip to the curve of his lips, the slope of his jaw and nose, everything about him looks incredible.

He’s classically handsome, the kind of face that would go perfectly on a poster to advertise the rebellion.

“It took us months, but we were finally able to adjust the level of chemicals and bodily fluids inside him so that he’s stable and strong enough. His stamina and endurance are double that of an Olympic athlete's, he’s faster than the fastest man alive and his reflexes are similar to that of a nile crocodile. His strength is superhuman, and his five senses have been enhanced and sharpened so he will be aware of enemy movement and location at all times. Everything about him is genetically tailored to guarantee victory for us.” Seunghyub says, puffing out his chest a little bit. “Took us a year in the making but it will all be worth it when he’s out on the front lines, kicking the Red Force’s ass.” 

Chani looks up from the final prototype. “Does he have a name?”

“Seokwoo.”

_ Seokwoo.  _

Something else catches Chani’s eyes, and he gestures to the pod tucked in the corner of the room. There’s another prototype nestled inside the pod, one that looks identical to Seokwoo. “What’s that over there?” 

Seunghyub hesitates. “He was the penultimate prototype. We don’t know what happened, but something’s wrong with him. His chemical and bodily fluid levels are perfect, he passed every test, but there’s something wrong with his personality.” 

Chani frowns. “Why keep him there?” 

“General Kim saw potential in him. I don’t know what, but he ordered us to keep him in there for today. His body will be disposed of tomorrow, and we can continue with the final phase of activating Seokwoo.” Seunghyub explains. 

“Did he have a name?” 

Hweseung shrugs. “Not an official name, but one of the lab technicians named him Rowoon.” 

“Huh.” Chani purses his lips together, albeit still confused. Why in the world would General Kim want to keep a defected prototype like Rowoon? Chani quickly ends his train of thought, knowing better than to question General Kim’s authority and decisions. “Well, thank you for showing me Seokwoo. I’m looking forward to seeing him in action.” Chani offers a tight lipped smile, and Hweseung and Seunghyub salute to him before he exits the laboratory. 

That night, as Chani’s deep asleep, he’s forcibly awoken by the sound of alarms going off and someone pounding at his door. Out of sheer muscle memory, Chani jolts out of bed, pulling a kevlar jacket over his sleep uniform before rushing to the door. He expects either General Kim or someone beneath him in rank to be on the other side at the door,  _ anyone _ but the person he’s greeted by. 

“Lieutenant Kang! I was informed that I would find you here.” 

_ Seokwoo.  _

Chani’s eyes widen, before quickly narrowing. “Seokwoo? Why are you …” he gestures wildly in the air, “... alive? I thought you hadn’t been activated yet.” 

Seokwoo nods, almost looking as confused as Chani. “Someone must have done something to kickstart my internal organs. Before I knew it, people around me were panicking, telling me that Rowoon had gone missing.” 

Chani’s heart stops momentarily, his entire body going still. “You’re telling me that Rowoon is  _ gone.”  _ Seokwoo nods again, looking more panicked this time. 

“He’s still in the building somewhere. I’m working to track him down, but I’m going to need backup. Rowoon is powerful.” Seokwoo doesn’t need to say any more before Chani grabs a dual set of pistols from his nightstand, turning the safety off on both of them. 

“Lead the way.” 

He manages to keep up with Seokwoo for the first minute or so, but Seunghyub wasn’t joking when he said Seokwoo’s speed was faster than any human ever alive. Coupled with the maze-like hallway system of the military base, Chani loses Seokwoo’s trail. He angrily curses under his breath, but perks up when he spots Seokwoo at the end of the hallway. For some reason, Seokwoo is unmoving and his back is facing Chani, almost as if he’s waiting to attack. 

“Seokwoo!” Chani sprints over, his footwork as quiet as possible to minimize additional sound. “Oh thank god, I thought I had lost you.” Seokwoo immediately turns around to face Chani, and that’s when he realizes that there’s something seriously wrong with Seokwoo. 

He smirks at Chani, but unlike the real Seokwoo, there’s no warmth behind his eyes. In its place is a cold, hard expression that Chani can’t decipher. 

The words almost die in his throat when he realizes what’s happened. 

“Rowoon  — oh my  _ god,  _ you’re Rowoon.” 

Rowoon’s smile turns twisted. “You’re perceptive, aren’t you, Lieutenant? Or should I say,  _ Chani?”  _ The name strikes a chord within Chani, and his blood begins to boil. No one, with the exception of General Kim, calls him Chani at the military base. “My my, I didn’t think you’d be so cute.” He hooks a finger underneath Chani’s chin, gently tilting it upwards. 

Suddenly the difference in height between them feels so much more pronounced.

Chani snarls, grabbing Rowoon’s wrist. “Don’t  _ fucking touch me. _ ” He snaps. “What the hell did you do to Seokwoo?” 

Rowoon laughs, devoid of any emotion. “I didn’t do anything to your precious Seokwoo. I’m just taking this oppurtunity to get the fuck out of here.” While he’s distracted, Chani shoves Rowoon against the wall, pressing the barrel of one of his pistols against Rowoon’s temple. 

“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you.” 

Rowoon lifts his knee up, and forcibly shoves it into Chani dick. Chani wails, curling in on himself and losing his grip on Rowoon, and feels himself getting pushed against the wall. His pistols lie on the floor by Rowoon’s feet, and Chani’s hands are pushed against the wall, immobilized by Rowoon’s hands.

“What was it about being cocky that you said?” Rowoon purrs. 

Chani narrows his eyes. “We have Seokwoo.”

Rowoon laughs again, this time amusedly and it’s so out of character that it genuinely freaks Chani out. “Oh, I forgot how stupid you military folk are.” Chani grits his teeth at the statement, but is unable to retort. “Especially considering  _ you _ were the ones that created me.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“I have the exact same DNA as Seokwoo. All of my physical abilities are heightened to the same degree as his are. We’re almost the exact same person, but you know what sets us apart?” He pauses for dramatic effect. “One of us has a more ambiguous moral alignment and would kill the other in a heartbeat. Wanna guess who that’s going to be?” 

Chani can’t breathe. It’s almost infuriating how Rowoon and Seokwoo share the same gorgeous face, but they both wear it so, so, so differently. He tries to knee Rowoon the same way that was done to him but Rowoon’s hands move quicker than he does, grabbing his knee and flipping him onto the ground. Chani grunts as Rowoon straddles him, preventing him from moving. 

“Why are you even wasting your time holding me hostage? Couldn’t you be escaping?” 

Rowoon shrugs. “It doesn’t matter what I do. Your base’s defenses were hacked into an hour ago, I could leave right now or in an hour and it would make no difference.” Chani’s getting impatient, a silent anger bubbling beneath the surface of his skin.

“You didn’t answer my question. Why. Are. You. Here.” 

“For you.” 

Chani curses at the way he flushes, what an inopportune situation to be flustered. “Excuse me?” He barks out. “Don’t make up nonsense.” 

“I’m telling the truth, babydoll.” Rowoon’s smile turns soft all of a sudden. “I knew that Seokwoo was going to be in love with you the second he saw you, so I had to get to you first.” 

“Get to me first — Rowoon, what the hell are you talking about?” Chani sputters, exasperated. 

Rowoon’s expression does a complete 180, suddenly turning dark and wicked. “I wanted to do this.” He leans down, cupping Chani’s face and kissing him roughly. Chani can barely process what’s happening in the moment, and just as it starts, it stops. Rowoon stands back up, admiring the way Chani lies down on the ground beneath him, a flustered, confused mess. 

“I didn’t think I’d ever have the pleasure of doing something like this to one of the top lieutenants in Korea, but you never really know when you’ll get lucky.” Rowoon purrs. “But I must be making my exit now, so sorry it had to end like this.”

Chani is furious. “ _ Hold on a second  _ —”

“Maybe I’ll see you on the other side of the war, hm, cutie?” 

With that, Rowoon exits in a flash, leaving Chani shell shocked and unable to comprehend what just happened to him. 

“Lieutenant Kang!” It’s Seokwoo, dashing down the hallway. His eyes widen when he notices the state Chani’s in. “Oh my god, are you alright?” He extends a hand out, helping Chani stand up.

Chani groans appreciatively, feeling more composed when he’s back on his feet, picking up his pistols off the ground. “Yeah, I think I’m alright. I had … an altercation with Rowoon, and he managed to beat me up before escaping.” He sighs, hating the fact that he has to resort to  _ lying.  _ What in the world did Rowoon do to him? 

Seokwoo looks sympathetic, embracing Chani in a hug. “I’m just happy you’re alright. We can deal with Rowoon later. He’s the least of our priorities now. ” Chani can’t help but melt in Seokwoo’s arms, feeling at peace for the first time since he woke up. 

“What do you mean?”

“General Kim has been captured.”

Chani’s body freezes in shock. “General Kim has been  _ what.” _

“When the internal security systems were compromised by external hackers, they must have also done something to Rowoon to have awakened him. I’m suspecting it was an inside job. Rowoon’s escape was just enough to distract everyone from their main goal: kidnapping General Kim.” 

Chani feels sick to the stomach. How could he have been so reckless, submitting to Rowoon and allowing the hackers to have gotten away with this? He feels like a new recruit all over again, pathetic and useless. “Has a search team been employed to locate General Kim?” The two of them start running back to the main hub of the military base, into the building’s security room. “Is there any surveillance footage of General Kim being kidnapped?” 

Seokwoo shakes his head. “All units have been ordered to protect the base first, we have no one available to form a rescue unit. The hackers corrupted all of the surveillance footage.” 

Chani massages his temples, desperately trying to come up with a strategy. With General Kim gone, their entire base will be off-kilter, all their strategies gone out the window without his command. “How could Junmyeon allow himself to be so recklessly captured like this?” Chani questions, muttering under his breath. On the bright side, he’s incredibly impressed by Seokwoo: his intellect, his ability to pick up on things quickly, and his natural skill at being a leader. “I guess all we can do is stay up for the rest of the night, secure the base, and deploy a rescue team tomorrow morning.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.”

* * *

Trying to hold down the base without General Kim is an absolute  _ nightmare.  _ They’re able to get the security systems back up and running in a few hours, but Chani can sense how tense and despondent the atmosphere is. He’s gathered up a team of nine, including himself, to search for General Kim, and left leadership of the base to Seokwoo as he’s temporarily gone. 

He’s all suited up and about to leave the base before he sees Seokwoo sprinting towards him.

“Lieutenant Kang! Stop! There’s new news!” Chani halts in his tracks.

“What?”

Seokwoo holds out a tablet. He’s pulled up a news article, though it’s scrolled down so Chani can’t see the headline. “Rowoon was captured by the Red Force.” He looks forlorn, and Chani angrily curses under his breath. 

“Motherfucker.” He’s going to have another headache just thinking about the implications of what that could mean for the Red Force. They had taken a clone of the human weapon formulated to win the war. Things weren’t going to be as easy as General Kim had said. 

“There’s more news, but I don’t know if you’ll like it.” Seokwoo’s voice is quiet. He scrolls up to the top of the news article. There, is a photo of General Kim, but he doesn’t look like General Kim  _ at all.  _ His hair is now a vibrant red, styled upwards into two devil horns. There’s water  _ everywhere,  _ surrounding him, and seeming to bend at his will. Chani reads the headline:

**General Kim, leader of the armed rebellion, found to have secretly been the leader of the Red Force.**

Chani wants to puke. His head is spinning and he can barely stand up as he scans the opening sentences of the news article. 

_ “The former leader of the armed rebellion, Kim Junmyeon, now goes by the moniker Suho.”  _

Chani looks up at Seokwoo, horrified, tears suddenly starting to spill from his eyes.

He hasn’t cried in  _ years _ . 

Seokwoo squeezes him in a hug, rubbing soothing circles into his back.

“We’ll be okay, Lieutenant Kang. You still have me.”


	4. rpm / obsession au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this entirely dedicated to naja, who wanted me to write a second part to my obsession au, and also mentioned that i had written a good guy au before a rpm au (which is quite shocking since i can never shut up about rpm). anyways, i hope you enjoy ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅
> 
> similarly to the first chapter, the same warnings apply! this ended up being a much longer chapter too, lol. i promise that your reguarly scheduled soft rochan fluff will resume in the next chapter~

A month has passed since General Kim  — no,  _ Suho’s  _ departure, and life at the military base has returned back to normal. There’s still a lingering sentiment of apprehension in the air, but Chani supposes that it’ll never truly go away. Chani’s been promoted to General and appoints Seokwoo as his lieutenant and second-in-command. What surprises Chani the most is how perfectly they mesh together: their work ethics play off one another, and in turn, they’re a lethal and deadly combo. Though, he also comes to value Seokwoo’s company in other ways. While they haven’t placed a definitive label on their relationship, Seokwoo makes Chani feel feelings that he hasn’t felt in a long, long time. Chani goes to bed nestled in Seokwoo’s arms, he allows Seokwoo to press soft kisses against his cheeks, and Chani loves to hug Seokwoo after long and exhausting days. 

In light of Suho’s betrayal, Chani doubles the security at the base and takes extra precaution when recruiting new soldiers. After analyzing the DDoS attack that had shut their systems down and allowed Suho to disappear without a trace, it was revealed that it was the work of an insider. Chani and Seokwoo painstakingly question every single soldier and higher ranking officer, managing to weed out five of the Red Force sympathizers that had been secretly working with Suho for the last two years. It’s disheartening and almost feels like a punch in the gut to learn how much malicious activity had been happening right under Chani’s nose. He quickly learns to only wholeheartedly trust Seokwoo, though that trust only seems to strengthen their relationship. 

As of the status quo, their top priority is either capturing Rowoon or finding a way to compromise the Red Force’s frontline of attack. Chani sends out strike teams to stealthily infiltrate the enemy base, and gather any relevant information that could aid in accomplishing their goals. His plan is to find a point of weakness, and attack when the Red Force least expects them to. After a month of extracting information, Chani finally hears the first sign of good news. 

He’s seated at a meeting with eight of his most trusted allies, including Seokwoo. Seated to his right are Lieutenant Kim Youngbin and Colonel Kim Inseong, two of the best strategists at the base. Youngbin’s expertise coupled with Inseong’s intellect make them an invaluable asset when devising their next attack against the Red Force. To the left of Chani is Colonel Lee Jaeyoon, a marksman with the deadliest aim Chani’s ever seen, Captain Lee Sanghyuk, a skilled fighter with extraordinary prowess on the battlefield, and Captain Baek Juho, the head of their technological department with a decade of hacking experience behind him. Seated directly across from Chani are Officer Yoo Taeyang and Officer Kim Youngkyun, the most lethal strike team at the base, second to only Chani and Seokwoo. Their years of friendship and training together have forged an incredibly unique relationship between the two, and it’s almost as if their brains function on the same wavelength. Collectively, they all make up Strike Force 9: shortened to SF9. 

“On our last outing, we were able to discover what’s very likely the Red Force’s source of energy.” Taeyang pushes forward a series of photos, the images capturing what looks like a glowing red crystal. “We uncovered two rooms in the base’s basement, both hidden behind a series of safe doors containing complex passcodes. This  _ must  _ be valuable to the Red Force in some way, or why else would they have it so securely locked away?” 

Inseong looks skeptical. “How do we know that they’re using it as a source for power?” 

Youngkyun pushes forward another series of photos, along with a plastic bag filled with a tiny amount of red powder. He first holds up a photo of the laboratory. “This is the scene of the laboratory after Rowoon was able to escape. We know that it was an inside job, but all the individuals that confessed to aiding Suho were not scientists. Therefore, they would have had no idea how to kickstart Rowoon. But, take a look at what was uncovered at the laboratory.” He holds up the bag of fine red powder. “This. Taeyang and I hypothesize that the red crystal was used to do just that.” 

Youngbin looks impressed, but still confused. “Were any tests done on the red powder in the laboratory?” Taeyang nods. 

“Seunghyub took a small sample and analyzed the chemical composition of the substance.” 

“And the verdict was?”

“He’s said he’s never seen a substance like it ever before.” Taeyang says, dropping his voice until it’s barely a whisper, dragging out each word for emphasis. “Seunghyub is confident that it can be used as an energy source for weaponry, and is currently working with the artillery division to design a gun that can somehow utilize the powder.” 

“That’s incredible.” Seokwoo comments, and the rest of them nod in unison. This is a major development for all of them, and takes them one step closer to dismantling the Red Force. He turns to Jaeyoon and Juho. “Were you able to extract any information from their database?” 

Juho nods, placing another series of photos on the table. “My team was able to extract detailed blueprints of some of the Red Force’s weaponry, and we noticed an interesting detail in the design.” He uncaps a red permanent marker, circling an area of the gun near the back of the barrel. “There’s what appears to be a chamber for a crystal to be inserted into. Cross referencing what Taeyang and Youngkyun were able to uncover, there’s a high probability that the Red Force incorporates the red crystal into their weaponry.” 

Jaeyoon then uncovers more photos, this time depicting what appears to be a floor layout. “We took things a step further and were able to find detailed floor plans of their base. If we utilize these floor plans alongside the experience and intel Taeyang and Youngkyun have from sleuthing their base, we can efficiently break, enter, and steal some of their red crystal.” Taeyang nods. 

“Youngkyun and I also bugged their meeting room, so we can overhear their schedules during the next two weeks and determine when is the best time to strike. We used the newly developed designs that Ryeowook created, so they should be virtually invisible to both the naked and technological eye.” 

Chani hums, incredibly impressed. “Good work everyone. I want us to launch the attack before the end of this month, so this gives us approximately three weeks to prepare. Taeyang and Youngkyun will monitor the audio from the bug, and in a week’s time we should settle on a finalized date. Seokwoo and I will go over the floor plan in more depth and determine the best strategy for attack, and we’ll discuss it as a group during next week’s collective meeting. In the meantime, I expect everyone to begin preparing for the attack and keeping themselves in top shape. Meeting closed.” 

* * *

By the next meeting, Taeyang and Youngkyun have gathered enough information from spying on the Red Force’s meetings, and decided on the best date for an attack. 

“The Red Force is holding a party on the 20th to celebrate the return of Suho.” Taeyang explains, with a hint of contempt and sadness laced into his words. “Security will be more lax that day, and most, if not all of their base will be celebrating. That day will be the best choice for an attack, as their guard will be down and it’ll make our job a lot easier.” 

Chani hums, excited. “The 20th will give us a week to prepare. Let’s make this attack  _ legendary.”  _

Youngbin and Inseong have come up with a near foolproof plan, given that everything works in their favour the night of the attack. The two of them stand at the front of the room, showing off a shittily made PowerPoint presentation, complete with a poorly chosen font and low quality images of all the members of their team. By this point, Chani has accepted this as the norm, and doesn’t question their graphic design choices. 

“Juho and his team will work to disable security protocol in advance, especially near the two rooms.” Inseong begins explaining, using a laser pointer to highlight a questionable photo of Juho looking incredibly exasperated. “After that, we can break in through the delivery port: Taeyang and Youngkyun discovered that they will be having some large shipments going in on that day, and there should be an opening for us to all enter through.” 

Youngbin nods, flipping to the next slide that contains photos of all of the team members. “We’ll be splitting into two teams, with General Kang on his own. The first team, consisting of Seokwoo, Taeyang, and myself will comprise the first team, and Sanghyuk, Youngkyun, Inseong, and Jaeyoon will comprise the second team.” He flips to the next slide, this one entirely comprised of text. “The first team, as the name suggests, will go in first and break into the room with lesser security on the left wing of the basement.” Youngbin clicks his wireless presentation remote, and a map of the basement with red circles pops onto the screen. “This should be fairly simple, especially with Taeyang’s prior experience breaking in. Seokwoo will be there for additional protection, lest we run into any stray soldiers who missed the party memo.” He flips to the next slide, Inseong taking over. 

“The second team will then enter, and break into the more heavily guarded room, this one on the right wing of the basement. You’ll be equipped with technology to get past the fingerprint and retina scanner, though the doors locked by passcode should be easily bypassed when we shut down security protocol ahead of time. After that, it should be a piece of pie. Go in, retrieve the crystals, get out.” Inseong explains, flipping to the next slide. “While all this is happening, General Kang will go in separately to target Rowoon. He’s probably the greatest threat to this mission, and since he was the only one to have fought Rowoon the night he escaped, General Kang will carry out this portion of the mission. Juho will be on lookout for General Kang, but his main priority is ensuring that all security systems are down.” 

Inseong flips to the final slide in the presentation and a giant photo of Taeyang with his nose scrunched up fills the screen, and the room erupts into a quiet chorus of laughter. “Capiche?” 

“Capiche!” The members echo. Chani closes the meeting, and preparation for the attack begins.

* * *

Chani doesn’t think he’s trained harder in his entire life than during the week leading up to the attack. He spends the majority of each day bulking up in the gym, practicing in the target range and sparring against Seokwoo to improve his reflex skills. Fighting against Seokwoo is also the closest he’ll get to training against Rowoon, and Chani needs all the practice he can get.

That isn’t to say he doesn’t notice how hard the rest of his team are training. A thick, heavy atmosphere envelops the training gym, each member of his team working twice, three times as hard as they normally would to prepare themselves. Sanghyuk, who spends most of his time in the gym anyways, works the hardest, pushing his speed and stamina until he’s only rivaled by Seokwoo in strength. There even are a few moments when Chani accidentally catches a glimpse of Seokwoo peeling a sweaty shirt off his torso and revealing a gloriously chiseled chest. Chani turns around, flushing bright red and nearly having to shove a fist into his mouth to prevent him from screaming. 

The night before the attack, Chani’s a bundle of nerves, anxiously pacing around his room as Seokwoo changes into his night uniform in the corner. Although Seokwoo was assigned a room of his own, he prefers to sleep in Chani’s room — not that Chani’s complaining. Seokwoo finishes changing, and walks over until he’s standing behind Chani and threads his arms around Chani’s waist, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Chani’s cheek.

“What are you thinking about?” 

Chani sighs, melting into Seokwoo’s embrace. “I’m just … nervous. This is our first official attack against the Red Force without General Kim’s,  _ Suho’s,  _ guidance. I’m just worried.” Seokwoo nods quietly before spinning Chani around so that they’re face to face. 

No matter how many times they kiss, Chani feels breathless when he’s around Seokwoo, his cold and indifferent demeanor as a leader of the rebellion being stripped away to reveal something softer and more vulnerable. Seokwoo is there for him in his toughest moments as a General, and manages to understand Chani perfectly well, despite the glaring fact that they’ve only known each other since the night of Suho’s grand departure. It’s the strangest match made in heaven, but Seokwoo is single handedly the greatest thing to have come out of one of the most painful moments in Chani’s life. 

“I’m confident that everything will go flawlessly.” Is all Seokwoo remarks. Chani frowns. 

“How are you so sure?” 

Seokwoo gently kisses the shell of Chani’s ear. “Because you’ll be there to lead us to victory.”

* * *

The next morning, the day of the elaborate heist, is incredibly nerve wracking.

The heist is planned to commence during nighttime, and Chani and his team spend the morning going over plans and the blueprints of the Red Force’s base one last time, eating a sufficient meal, and getting into tactical gear. The technology division designed brand new tech for the mission, and Chani suits into his usual bulletproof gear, straps on his newly modified pistols, and dons a shield visor for his eyes. Ryeowook described to him that not only would the visor protect his eyes from any noxious chemicals, but they also featured a digital display that could display the location of any of his teammates at any time. While Chani thinks his new tech is pretty cool, nothing can quite compare to the shiny new weapon in Jaeyoon’s hands. 

“Woah, Jaeyoon, Ryeowook made you  _ that?”  _ Sanghyuk is fawning over the flashy red gun that Jaeyoon’s holding, though it’s safe to say that everyone on the team is intrigued. 

Jaeyoon laughs, spinning it around in his hands. “Isn’t it cool? This is the first weapon prototype that utilizes the powder from the red crystal. Seunghyub helped Ryeowook design it, and he says that it’s the most powerful weapon he’s ever seen. It doesn’t have that much ammo, so I’ve gotta use it sparingly.” The rest of the team stare in wide eyed wonder, and suddenly team morale seems to be up — the prospect of having a weapon that could potentially be as powerful as the Red Force’s weaponry is energizing. 

Juho and his team diligently work to launch a DDoS attack against the Red Force, targeting their security systems and effectively shutting key parts of the framework down.

By nightfall, the team load onto the hovercraft, and wait with bated breath as they’re stealthily transported to the Red Force’s base. The atmosphere inside the hovercraft is so thick it could be sliced with a knife, though there’s an underlying sentiment of excitement. Thanks to the lack of security, the hovercraft lands on Red Force territory without a hitch, and so the heist commences. 

The first team — Youngbin, Seokwoo, and Taeyang — go in first, targeting the safe room located in the left wing. They sneak through the delivery opening, and crawl through the ventilation ducts to minimize detection from unwanted personnel. With Taeyang’s photographic memory of the ventilation system and interior map, the first team makes it to the left wing in record time. Youngbin goes directly for the safe room, while Taeyang and Seokwoo are close by to keep a lookout for any Red Force soldiers. Youngbin breaks into the safe room with ease, walking down a pristine white hallway before he lays his eyes on the prize. 

Almost instantly, his breath is taken away. 

The crystals are unlike anything he’s ever seen before, and the wall in front of him is covered in shelves that house  _ at least  _ a hundred moderately sized red crystals. Youngbin knows there’s a clock ticking, but when he finally grabs ahold of one of the glowing gems, he can’t help but take a few seconds to ogle it, turning the crystal around in his hands in utter fascination. It’s what he’d expect a crystal to look like, with the exception of the glowing interior core, pulsating with neon electricity. 

However, time is limited, so he gently places the crystal inside the protective briefcase he’s brought along with him, and double checks that it’s securely held in place before he closes his briefcase, letting out a quiet sigh.

One crystal down. 

As he’s making his way out of the room, he taps his earpiece that’s connected to his mic. “All clear. Next unit, ready for entry.” Once outside, he climbs back into the ventilation system with Seokwoo and Taeyang, ready to return to the hovercraft. 

The second team — Sanghyuk, Youngkyun, Inseong, and Jaeyoon — depart from the hovercraft, with Chani and Juho hot on their heels. While the second team goes up into the ventilation ducts, Chani and Juho take the risk of going through the hallways to directly track down Rowoon. Much like the first team, the second team deftly navigate through the duct system, easily passing by the fingerprint and retinal scanner with a copy of Suho’s fingerprint and an eye contact designed to mimic his retinas. A long, blindingly white hallway greets the four of them, and Sanghyuk sucks in a breath.

“I know most security systems are down, but there’s  _ no way  _ there aren’t any hidden mechanical traps.” He notes.

Jaeyoon quickly chimes in. “I have a smoke bomb on me.” 

It’s a risky option, but it’s a risk Sanghyuk’s willing to take. Not only will the smoke bomb trigger any possible hidden traps, but the gas it produces is poisonous to mutants — especially to the Red Force whose entire army is solely composed of mutant humans. Sanghyuk detonates the bomb with bated breath, watching as thick orange smoke fills the pristine white hallway. 

Nothing happens.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Youngkyun gestures, and the team quickly move as a pack, making their way down the hallway into the main room of the safe. Youngkyun’s seen the crystals previously, but they’re still quite a sight to be marvelled at. Bright white lights immediately turn on as they enter the main room, illuminating the wall of red crystals in front of them. The entire team stares forward in amazement, unbelieving that the Red Force had access to such a powerful substance all along.

Sanghyuk is the first to move, walking towards the shelves. “We don’t have much time, let’s grab and go.” 

Meanwhile, Chani and Juho are quietly prowling through the hallways: Chani tracking down Rowoon, and Juho nearby as backup but mainly focused on breaking into one of the smaller security rooms. They quickly split up, but make sure not to stray too far away from one another.

While the capture of Rowoon was a huge loss, Chani still had some leverage against Rowoon. The Red Force’s deadliest weapon also possessed a major flaw: he could be tracked down anytime by the opposing side. 

When Rowoon was first created alongside Seokwoo, a tracker was planted deep within him, mostly as a protective measure (they hadn’t exactly precognized that Rowoon would be used against them). The Red Force could attempt to remove the tracker, but that would require tearing deep within his internal organs, and would effectively kill him.

So long story short, it’s pretty fucking easy for Chani to locate Rowoon. 

He’s got a heat sensor built into his visor to detect any other enemies that may be closeby, but his sensor reads nothing. Just Rowoon, all by himself. Chani can’t help but smile. This heist may be easier than he expected. He turns a corner, and is immediately greeted by the frustratingly handsome image of Rowoon. The expression plastered all over Rowoon’s face when he notices Chani’s presence is near comical, and Chani wishes there was a camera feature on his visor so he could capture an image. 

“Chani? What the fuck?” 

The corners of Chani’s lips quirk up. “So we meet again.” 

Rowoon’s eyes widen, but immediately narrow into a twisted expression. “Why are you here?” 

“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to see you again?” The thought of having to sink to such an abnormally low level makes Chani’s stomach churn, but flirting may be the easiest way to distract Rowoon while his team extracts the crystal. Rowoon’s face immediately shifts, settling into his flagship smirk. 

“I see how it is. Your ragtag team of scrappy soldiers may be smarter that I initially pegged you to be. Genius, considering you chose a day like this.” He presses Chani against the wall, but this time, Chani has enough strength to push back against him. Rowoon’s eyes immediately darken, noticing the improvement. “Oh. Hot. Didn’t think you’d be more prepared this time.” 

Chani growls, pushing Rowoon away from him. Rowoon manages to get under his skin in the exact same way that Seokwoo can, though the two incite drastically different responses. “Fuck off, Rowoon. I’m not here to fuck around with you.” 

Rowoon raises an eyebrow. “Care to share what your true intentions are? I’ll promise I won’t do anything, so long as you take off that visor of yours. And the earpiece.” Chani laughs, the sound hollow.

“You’re crazy if you think I’d submit to your requests like that.” 

Before Chani can even react, Rowoon’s superhuman reflexes move first, and he grabs Chani’s face with one hand, using the other to pluck off his visor. It falls to the floor with a sickening clatter, and Rowoon uses the noise distraction to pull out Chani’s earpiece as well. It too drops to the floor, though this time Rowoon crushes the tiny piece of technology with the heel of his boot.

“What the fuck?!” 

Rowoon shrugs. “I’ll keep my promise, I won’t do anything to hurt you.” Chani looks furious, and is willing every single atom within him not to panic. He just lost his two methods of communication to the rest of his team, and he’s stuck with Rowoon. The only tiny speck of hope he holds is the tracker planted into his bulletproof vest — things aren’t entirely despondent just yet. 

Though, right now would really be a great time for Juho to find him. 

Rowoon grabs Chani’s arm, pulling him down a series of hallways until they’re in an area Chani is unfamiliar with, though completely devoid of any other individuals. 

It’s just him. And Rowoon.

And that absolutely  _ terrifies  _ Chani. 

Rowoon’s cornering him against the wall again, but isn’t applying any force or restraining Chani. “ _ God,  _ it’s so good to see your cute face again. Are you having fun with Seokwoo?” The intonation of his words are slick yet sleazy, rubbing against Chani’s eardrums uncomfortably. 

“That’s none of your business.” 

“And what? The red crystals weren’t your business either, but that’s exactly what you’re here for, isn’t it?” 

Chani’s blood freezes, though carefully masks his expression so as not to show any signs of shock. Rowoon must have said that as a fluke, there’s absolutely no way he would’ve known in advance about the heist. Every step of their plan was meticulously created so that they would be virtually untraceable. He quickly adopts a confident persona. 

“Is it really that hard to believe that I haven’t come back solely for you?” 

Rowoon smiles. “You didn’t think I wasn’t expecting some sort of attack?” Chani isn’t as intimated by Rowoon’s baseless jabs anymore; he realizes they’re all a ruse just to get a rise out of him.

“We’re already on our way out. We shut down all your systems, and your entire base is partying it up or drunk out of their minds to stop us.” Chani indulges in a cocky smirk, placing his hands on his hips. His team didn’t work so painstakingly hard for nothing. Rowoon raises an eyebrow. 

“Sure, my entire base may be full of idiots, but you’re forgetting about something.” 

Chani frowns. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

Rowoon grins, and Chani feels like he’s looking straight into the mouth of a Great White shark. 

“You forgot about me.” 

Right as Inseong’s hands make contact with a red crystal, the lights suddenly switch to a bright red in the second safe room as the security alarm goes off and starts wailing. He panics, turning to Sanghyuk.

“What the fuck? This wasn’t supposed to happen! I thought Juho disabled the alarms!” 

Sanghyuk shakes his head. “No time for that, we gotta get the fuck out of here.” Time seems to pass in slow motion as all four team members grab a crystal from the shelf, pocketing them in the special tiny pouches that Seunghyub had designed for them. There’s only one thing on their minds and it’s that  _ they need to get the fuck out of the Red Force’s base.  _

As the second team sprint out of the safe room, down the hallway filled with smoke, Juho’s voice comes over their earpieces. 

“General Kang has been taken by Rowoon.”

“What?!” Inseong screeches.

“I think he’s behind all of this, he somehow figured out that we were going to break in.” 

Sanghyuk curses, running at top speed. “ _ Please  _ tell me that the delivery opening hasn’t been closed.” His words come out as breathy gasps as his team come to a halt in front of the ventilation opening that they had used prior. Juho sighs.

“Rowoon managed to close the opening. We’re going to have to use the emergency exit located at the other side of the building to get out. Luckily for you, it’s not too far from where you guys are. The only problem is that it’s going to take the first team an extra two minutes to get there.” 

The team sucks in a breath. Two minutes could be the difference between life and death. 

Youngkyun’s moving quickly, already pulling up a map of the building on his holo-watch. “We can use the ventilation ducts to get to the emergency exit. We just have to be fast. Juho,  _ find  _ General Kang.” Juho grinds his teeth.

“You don’t think I’m doing that already?”

Sanghyuk grunts, climbing up into the vents after Youngkyun. “Just be quick.” 

Juho races through the hallways, following the location of Chani’s tracker and halts to a stop when he finds Chani’s visor and earpiece discarded on the ground. He sighs when he notes the wrecked, unsalvageable state of the earpiece, and gingerly picks up both items before quickly pocketing them. He’s led on a rat race through the hallways, finally spotting Chani and Rowoon verbally sparring against one another.

“General Kang!”

The distraction is enough time for Chani to sock a fist against Rowoon’s jaw, and the clone staggers back. Chani pulls out his pistol and shoots Rowoon in the thigh, not fatal enough to kill him but enough to hinder his movement. As Rowoon collapses to the ground with a cry and litany of curses, Chani sprints forward towards Juho, barely sparing a glance back. 

“Rowoon shut down the delivery opening, we have to get to the emergency exits in the left wing if we even want a chance at getting out of here.” Juho explains in half-breaths as he leads Chani through the hallways. Chani’s heart is pumping fast, the rush of adrenaline fueling him to run  _ faster.  _

Chani frowns, scanning through a mental map in his head. “Where’s everyone?” 

“Scattered. The first team is nearing the exit, the second team is right on their heels.” 

“Switch the plan. There’s another emergency exit closer to us than the one in the left wing. All of us should be able to reach the exit by the next minute, and we can get out together.” 

Juho reacts without hesitation, relaying the message to the other team members and punching a code into the communicator on his wrist to inform the hovercraft of where to meet them. Chani takes the lead as they move through a part of the base he’s more familiar with. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Rowoon chasing behind them, albeit with a slight limp, and sights the first and second teams across the grand main foyer of the base. 

It’s incredibly risky to cross through the foyer, but they have no choice. The exit is so close to all of them that they can taste it on the tip of their tongues. Blood is rushing through Chani’s veins, the roar of adrenaline so loud he can barely focus on anything except getting his team back to safety. His heart is thrumming so loudly as he continues sprinting forward, feeling his lungs burning and gasping for breath. Everything is so close, he’s almost there, they can make it — 

— the building’s lights suddenly go off.

Everything is blanketed in darkness and Chani  _ can’t fucking see.  _ The only light to go off of are the light necklaces some of his team members are wearing, but that’s fucking useless because it only draws more attention to them.

All of a sudden, he can hear clamour from the opposite side of the main foyer, and a crowd of armed (yet drunken) Red Force soldiers quickly approach them. Chani’s running for his life, he can see the rest of his teammates running like their life depends on fucking running, and from the corner of his eye he spots Jaeyoon stopping in the middle of the foyer.

Chani wants to scream, he wants to curse Jaeyoon for doing something reckless, every single neuron in his brain is firing, trying to come up with one reason as to why Jaeyoon would fucking stop in the middle of a commotion while the Red Force and Rowoon are about to kill them. 

Jaeyoon pulls out his red pistol, aiming it to the sky. 

And then it feels like the world stops for a few seconds.

Jaeyoon pulls the trigger, a bright beam of light firing into the air, making contact with the ceiling. 

A millisecond passes. 

And then water, water  _ everywhere.  _ The ceiling is spurting out water, and then Chani realizes that  _ Jaeyoon triggered the sprinkler system.  _

The distraction is just enough to stop the Red Force in their tracks, making the floors incredibly slippery and difficult to run across. Chani and his team, with all their training on rough and tricky terrain, seize the opportunity, using the last spare seconds to complete what feels like the final stretch of a marathon, pushing past the emergency exit doors and storming onto the hovercraft. Jaeyoon is the last to board, and the hovercraft surges off the ground once his feet touch the hovercraft floors, doors shutting behind him as it offensively fires a round of bullets against the Red Force soldiers that have managed to catch up with them. 

Everything in the past few minutes has gone by in super-fucking-sonic speed, that it takes Chani a few whole seconds to realize that his entire team are alive, and have returned safely.

Holy shit. 

They’re all alive. 

The hovercraft errupts into a chorus of cheering, Sanghyuk’s fucking bawling his eyes out, everyone’s going in for one big hug, Seokwoo’s crushing Chani in a hug and kissing him harder than he ever has, Taeyang and Youngkyun are celebrating over their victory, Jaeyoon is still in shock that he managed to pull off a decision he made in a split second, and Youngbin and Inseong are just happy that they’re all alive. The atmosphere is charged with a kind of energy none of them have ever experienced, and by the time they return to their home back, that energy has yet to dissipate. 

They all regroup in the meeting room, the two teams uncovering the treasure from their heist, and Chani is positively breathless when the red crystals are all laid out on the table in front of them. Seunghyub and Ryeowook are both there to celebrate their victory, and Seunghyub is positively  _ vibrating  _ with excitement when he finally gets to touch the red crystals for the first time.

Everyone is still celebrating in the meeting room, drunk off the sensation of their first success post-Suho. Chani makes eye contact with Seokwoo from across the room, crossing the floor in three strides to jump into Seokwoo’s arms, burying his face into the crook of Seokwoo’s neck.

“Oh my god. I can’t fucking believe we did it.” He says quietly, allowing him the luxury of sobbing happy tears, grabbing Seokwoo’s face with both of his hands and pressing kisses over every possible inch of skin. 

Seokwoo responds just as enthusiastically, the two of them seeming to forget about the world around them. 

“I didn’t doubt anything for a second. I knew we were going to make it.” 

Chani scrunches his nose. “You’re too optimistic.” 

“No, c’mon, you gotta ask me ‘why’.” Seokwoo grins, looking all puppy-like.

Chani rolls his eyes, but indulges him. “Okay, why?”

“Because you were there to lead us to victory.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun trivia: sf9's military ranking (with the exception of chani and seokwoo) are based on age order! the ranking goes lieutenant, colonel, captain, and then officer for maknae line. i originally referred to the members by their ranking in an earlier draft, but it got semi confusing, solely due to the number of kims in sf9. i have a lot of headcanons about their roles/skills of each member in this universe, so feel free to ask me any questions because i've gotten pretty invested into all of this (ahahaha) 
> 
> this ended up being so much fun to write, and i really want to continue exploring this alternate universe! i'm considering adapting both one-shots into their own stand alone story and add extra content, but who knows.


	5. lemon!chani au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello this chapter is so dumb but i watched [this](https://youtu.be/Wh3JNDgtBp0?t=642) and immediately thought to myself: "oh my god, i have to write something with chani in that adorable lemon costume." 
> 
> edit 2020/07/08: chapter 5 and 8 both contained cameos from members of aoa, however, i have chosen to remove any mentions of aoa and replaced them with other female idols.

Chani hates his job. 

Maybe _hate_ is a bit of a strong word (or at least that’s what Chani’s parents tell him), his job isn’t _that_ bad. He even considers himself lucky to have scored a job with such little work experience, and the job pays decently well, considering how flexible his work hours are. However, he can’t really say it’s an ideal occupation —

— because Chani’s job entails dressing up as a lemon mascot for a lemonade booth in a mall. 

So yeah. Not quite ideal. 

He sighs, slipping into the oversized lemon costume and clocking in for another day of work. Chani greets Yeri, his favourite coworker who’s incredibly sweet and kind and always manages to dote on how adorable Chani looks in his lemon costume. 

Chani remembers how embarrassed he was when he first scored the job, almost feeling humiliated every time he had to dress up in the costume and stand in front of the booth. He was almost going to quit, but he needed the money badly, and his parents were always pestering him to get a job. Thankfully, Yeri encouraged him every step of the way, and eventually Chani became less conscious of how he looked and now barely spares a second thought when he has to do his job. He falls into a simple routine: every morning, he’ll dress up and stand in front of the booth, occasionally reciting cheesy prewritten lines to encourage customers, and Yeri will be behind the booth taking orders and preparing drinks. 

Today is no different. The hours pass by quickly, and nothing particularly stands out until a trio of men approach the booth, making jokes to one another and laughing loudly. Chani says his usual lines, and doesn’t really pay attention to them — he deals with so many customers on a daily basis that their faces all blend into a confusing amalgamation by the end of the day — until the tallest of the three turns around and briefly makes eye contact with Chani.

Chani doesn’t believe in love at first sight, far from it, but he _goddamn_ he feels as if the breath has been sucked out of him when they lock eyes. He wonders how it’s humanly possible for someone to naturally look _this_ physically stunning, and his brain short circuits as his eyes scan over every square inch of the handsome stranger’s face. The handsome stranger is much taller than Chani and is dressed stylishly, his clothes accentuating his near perfect bodily proportions and his long, long legs. 

“Seokwoo, stop ogling the lemon!” One of the handsome stranger's — _Seokwoo’s_ friends cries out, and Chani flushes bright red, quickly looking away and wishing the ground would swallow him whole. 

Seokwoo seems to be sporting a similar flush, lightly jabbing his friend with a fist. “Shut up, Sanghyuk!” Both of his friends erupt in a chorus of laughter, and Seokwoo flushes harder. 

“C’mon, we gotta go to catch the 5 o’clock movie,” his other friend urges, “don’t forget to say farewell to the cute lemon!” He waggles his fingers, and Seokwoo looks _furious,_ yet manages to throw a shy smile in Chani’s direction before the three of them leave. Chani raises up his hand slowly to give a little wave in return, though he can’t imagine how silly he must look, all flustered in his lemon costume. 

In the distance, Chani can hear Seokwoo cursing out his friends, and he wonders how Seokwoo still manages to look effortlessly handsome. “Yah, what was that?” Chani whips his head around so quickly he nearly gets whiplash, brought back to reality by Yeri’s words. 

“I legitimately have no idea.” Chani’s sweating a little, and it feels like the temperature of the building has increased by a couple degrees after his encounter with Seokwoo. He nervously adjusts his lemon costume. 

Yuna smirks at him, wiping down one of the counters with a dishcloth. “He was pretty cute though. You should’ve asked for his number, Chani-ah.” 

Chani puffs out a tiny sigh, covering his face with his hands. “I should’ve.”

Chani goes home that night, crawling into bed and sadly staring up at the ceiling of his dorm room. “Maybe I should’ve asked him out.” He whispers into the darkness, to no one in particular. “It wasn’t like I had a chance with him anyways,” he sighs sadly, turning onto his side and pulling his bedsheets closer, “he’s probably got girls lining up just to get his number.” He goes to sleep, and by the morning, doesn’t dwell on his feelings too much. Chani falls back into the natural routine of things, scarfing down breakfast and finishing up homework before he leaves for work at around 10 o’clock. By the time he shimmies into his lemon costume and happily greets Yeri, thoughts of Seokwoo have been pushed back into the recesses of his mind. 

Which is why Chani gets a shock when he sees Seokwoo going up to the lemonade stand again, this time with two different friends. He turns around to lock eyes with Yeri, who looks equally as shocked as him, and he has to prevent himself from openly gaping. 

“Seokwoo?” He manages, and Seokwoo smiles at him, turning Chani’s insides to complete mush. “I didn’t think you were going to come back.”

Seokwoo scratches the nape of his neck, looking awfully shy. “I came back because I didn’t get your name the last time.” Chani is shocked by the sudden confession, eyes widening. 

He must look like a very shocked tiny lemon. 

“You came back … just to ask me for my name?” 

Thank _god_ Seokwoo’s friends are up ordering drinks and a distance away from the two of them. 

Seokwoo nods, suddenly looking quite flustered. “I hope this doesn’t come off as too sudden, I just really wanted to know —”

“— Chani. My name is Chani.” 

“Oh my god, how is your name even so adorable.” The words spill out before Seokwoo can stop himself, and he quickly slaps his hands over his mouth to muffle his words. He looks like a bashful puppy, face turning red. “Oh my god, I didn’t mean to say that.” 

Before Chani can respond, he’s cut off.

“Is this him? Oh my, what a cute little lemon. ‘Habitual Liar’ Inseong wasn’t even lying.” Seokwoo’s friends have finally returned with their drinks, crowding around the two of them. Chani quietly wonders if all of Seokwoo’s friends are this forthcoming. 

Seokwoo grumbles at his friends, playfully shoving them. “Jaeyoon, stop terrorizing him.”

Jaeyoon laughs. “Hey, I’m not the one who visited the same lemonade booth two days in a row just to see the lemon.” He glances over at Chani, smiling fondly. “Isn’t that right, Taeyang?” He nudges the third person in their trio, though thankfully Taeyang doesn’t really seem to care. 

“Hey, uh, maybe I’ll catch you around some other time?” Seokwoo asks, completely ignoring his friends. Chani’s about to say something along the lines of _“we’ve literally only seen each other twice at the mall”_ but he finds himself just nodding cutely, and waving to Seokwoo. When the three finally leave, Yeri scolds him. 

“Yah! Chani-ah, he came back just to see you and you didn’t ask for his number?” 

Chani pouts, and Yeri simply sighs. 

It’s already an anomaly that Seokwoo’s shown up two days in a row, so Chani doesn’t set his expectations too high. What he doesn’t expect is to see Seokwoo show up the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that. 

By the third day, they’ve exchanged numbers, to Yeri’s sheer delight (though Chani is still nervous as hell to text Seokwoo). And by the fifth day, Seokwoo’s run out of friends to drag along with him on his Chani-seeing-adventures. It’s gotten to the point where Chani tells his roommate, Hyunjin, about the strange yet painfully attractive man that keeps seeing him at work. 

“Dude, you gotta make a move on him,” Hyunjin says, stirring his bowl of cereal with a spoon, “you’re attracted to him, he’s clearly attracted to you. What’s there to lose?” He pauses, glancing over at Chani, who’s scribbling down math equations. “Yah, Chani, are you even listening to me?” 

Chani looks up, giving Hyunjin a half-hearted shrug. “My calculus isn’t gonna finish itself.” 

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, but continues. “ _As I was saying,_ one of you has got to make a move sometime. C’mon, you’re basically five words away from going on a date, I don’t know why it’s taking _this_ long. I’ve got my money on loverboy making the first move.” Chani flicks his eraser at Hyunjin, which finally manages to shut him up.

Luckily for Chani, he doesn’t need to wait too long. 

The next day when he comes into work, Yeri winks at him. “Are you excited to see your loverboy today?” Chani groans, but can’t bring himself to chastise Yeri the same way he does to Hyunjin. Yeri’s far sweeter than Hyunjin’s dumb ass. The day passes smoothly, yet Chani finds himself getting more antsy as 4:30 approaches, the time that Seokwoo usually comes to the lemonade booth. There aren’t as many customers, and Chani stands closer to the booth to talk to Yeri and take his mind off things. Halfway through a heated debate about what the best kind of muffin is, Chani spots Seokwoo from the corner of his eye, and he finds the breath being sucked out of him, but for a completely different reason.

Seokwoo’s dressed up.

As a strawberry.

He’s wearing a strawberry costume. 

“Seokwoo … are you dressed up … as a [strawberry](https://youtu.be/QuADdweSIXE?t=98)?” 

Chani can’t help the laugh that suddenly rips out of his throat and doubles over with laughter. When he finally composes himself, he feels slightly bad when he sees the nervous expression on Seokwoo’s face. 

“You have to dress up as a lemon everyday for work, and I don’t see many other lemon mascots around, so I thought you’d be a bit lonely.” Seokwoo confesses, face turning as bright as a strawberry. “I thought we could be strawberry lemonade together.”

_Oh my god._

Chani has no idea what possesses him in the moment.Maybe it’s the fact that Seokwoo _dressed up as a strawberry just for him_ or the fact that Seokwoo looks downright adorable as an oversized, 6 foot strawberry, but Chani surges forward and grabs Seokwoo’s face, pulling him down for a kiss. Seokwoo falters for a second, but kisses Chani back enthusiastically, and Chani pulls away, smiling endearingly at his favourite giant strawberry. He seizes the moment and decides to finally take Yeri and Hyunjin’s advice, leveraging the adrenaline from the heat of the moment to finally make a move. 

“Seokwoo, do you wanna go out with me?” 

Seokwoo looks like the happiest puppy-strawberry in the world, mouth widening and curling up into a smile. “Oh my god, I thought you would never ask. Yes, of course, yes.” 

From the corner of his eye, Chani can see Yeri excited clapping her hands, looking incredibly supportive and overjoyed. Chani quietly laughs to himself, taking Seokwoo’s hands in his and staring into his eyes. He has no idea what force in the universe brought them together, but he’s never met someone quite as persistent and lovable as Seokwoo.

Maybe his job isn’t so bad after all. 

“Let’s be strawberry lemonade together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol yes i had to write rowoon as strawberry!lia from the itzy wannabe dance practice video


	6. superpower au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was written for pieface, who requested that i write "rochan angst that’ll end up in fluff"! i decided to spice things up by also turning this into a superpower au, and i hope you enjoy! this chapter is tied into the obsession au, though it's more of an alternate timeline where chani and seokwoo are the clones (whereas chanhee and rowoon are the "originals").

The rubber soles of Chani’s combat boots crunch against the rubble beneath his feet as he navigates through the barren, post-apocalyptic terrain. 

He notes that it’s soon getting dark, and he’d be a dead man if he was out in the open during the night. Chani works rogue, though it wasn’t by choice. The Red Force created him, deemed him too unfit, and kicked him out, leaving Chani with nearly nothing. 

It’s a tough life, but Chani knew that his life would never have a semblance of normalcy from the moment he was created. At least they were gracious enough not to strip Chani of his powers. 

Chani navigates through the concrete debris like it’s the back of his hand, making his way back to the little one-room apartment he calls home. It’s nothing luxurious, in fact, almost a miracle that it even survived given that the rest of the apartment building was on the verge of falling apart. It has the bare minimum that Chani needs to survive, and his powers act as an additional layer of security.

As he jumps over a fallen over pole, he senses the tiniest morsel of lingering doubt, a weird chill against the back of his neck. Chani pauses, accounting to it as nothing more than a cool breeze, and carries on. Until he hears a distant crunching sound from behind him. 

His body instantly stiffens, and the familiar sensation of his palms heating up creeps in. Just as Chani turns around, he hears a familiar voice — one that he never expected to hear again.

“Chani!” 

Sure enough, in the distance, Chani spots the last person he wants to see. 

The fiery itch climbs up his forearms, sparking beneath the surface of his skin and begging to be released. Chani inhales deeply, trained enough to control his most primal urges. 

_ “Seokwoo.”  _

He doesn’t look like he’s aged a single day since they last saw each other. Seokwoo is handsome, almost painfully so, and still regards Chani with an incredibly soft expression. He’s dressed head to toe in tactical combat gear, most likely stolen from the Red Force, yet he looks more like an innocent college student rather than an assassin. Seokwoo’s definitely grown a significant amount since they last saw each other, and Chani hates the tiny part of him that still yearns to touch Seokwoo, to hold his hand.

“I thought I said I never ever wanted to see your face again.” Chani spits. 

Seokwoo looks wounded. “Chani, you have to let me explain —” 

Almost instinctively, the heat surges through Chani’s arm, and he finally succumbs to the sensation. Flames engulf his forearms, hottest around his hands. A trail of fire scorches the ground, racing towards Seokwoo with great force and intensity. 

Seokwoo reacts instantaneously, and it’s almost a painful reminder as to how in sync the two of them were, and will always. As much as he hates to admit it, the sight of Seokwoo’s powers is mesmerizing. Waves of water appear out of thin air, meeting the fire halfway and crashing against the flames. The two elements battle against one another, the fire lapping at the frothy waves while the water works relentlessly to extinguish the flames. 

The both of them know that their powers can’t kill each other, a flaw in their creation that proved to be beneficial when they were on a team together, but incredibly bothersome when they have to spar. For them to even land a scratch, they have to use the full extent of their power.

It’s liberating when Chani lets himself go, allowing his power to completely overwhelm him and do the work for him. He’s had to be incredibly cautious with how he used his power after being kicked out of the Red Force, constantly in a perpetual state of fear of being caught. Chani indulges in the moment, releasing a firestorm towards Seokwoo and the adrenaline rush is  _ addictive.  _ The heat surges forward, eating through rubble and everything in between in its wake, snarling. 

Of course, Seokwoo can take it. His calm and collected demeanor quickly strips away as he matches Chani’s attack with what can only be described as a tropical storm. The ground beneath them becomes soggy and muddy with the moisture, and Chani struggles to hold his ground. He keeps one hand trained on Seokwoo while the other heats the ground, quickly evaporating the water. 

“Chani! You have to let me talk to you!” Seokwoo pleads, dodging a tirade of flames Chani relentlessly shoots towards him. “I’ve been searching for you forever, and I need to explain myself.” 

Chani momentarily pauses, stunned. 

“What is there to even explain?” 

Seokwoo sighs, resorting to sending a torrential downpour over Chani. “Please, just give me a chance.” 

Chani finally snaps, his fire intensifying in strength and power. The roar of the flames and noise of Seokwoo’s storm makes it near impossible to hear each other, and Chani is screaming at the top of his lungs to be heard. 

“What is there to even talk about?” Chani snarls. “You tried to  _ kill me.  _ Don’t tell me you forgot about our last encounter at the gorge.” He’s on the verge of tears having to remember one of his most painful memories. 

Seokwoo looks desperate. “Chani, that wasn’t me. That was Rowoon.” His eyes are pleading but his tone is firm and steady, and Chani hates how badly he wants to give in. 

“You’re lying.” Chani grinds his teeth. “You have to be lying.” 

“Chani, he manipulated you. Rowoon lied to you, it was all a setup. You have to believe me.” Seokwoo looks dejected, hands lowering until his arms lay limp by his sides. Instantaneously, the torrential downpour recedes, leaving only Chani’s fire in its wake. The wildfire engulfs Seokwoo, quickly consuming his body in flames. 

Chani screams when he realizes what’s happened, and the fire dissipates with a snap of his fingers. He sprints forward, heart racing when he notices Seokwoo’s body slumped on the ground. Seokwoo can’t die, but inhaling smoke definitely isn’t good for him either. Chani’s shaking as he kneels down beside Seokwoo, pulling him into his arms as Seokwoo’s eyes blearily open. 

“Please tell me you’re okay.” Chani whispers, and he can tell Seokwoo’s using his powers to restore his health when the shine in his eyes returns. 

Seokwoo weakly smiles. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little stunned from being able to finally see you again. You don’t know how long it’s taken me to track you down.” Chani has to will every cell in his body to not blush at that statement, he has no idea how Seokwoo still has that kind of effect on him even after so long. 

“Seokwoo, what were you talking about earlier?” Chani quietly demands, ignoring the way Seokwoo looks at him like he’s the center of his universe.

“Chani, you have to believe me when I say I didn’t kill you. They were able to genetically modify Rowoon, giving him the ability of master manipulation. He tricked you into thinking he was me.” 

Chani frowns. “How do you know this?” 

Seokwoo’s expression turns pained. “They captured and kidnapped me at the gorges when we were separated. They brought me back to their base, told me their plans, and tortured me.” He lifts up his shirt, revealing a nasty lattice pattern of healed scars. Chani winces at the visual, heart stuttering for Seokwoo. 

“Chani, you know that I would never intentionally try to harm you.” 

“How can I trust you?” Chani’s voice is wavering, searching Seokwoo’s face for a sign that he’s lying but finds nothing. 

Seokwoo maneuvers slightly, hand digging into a pocket before he pulls out a simple golden bracelet with intricate details carved into the metal. 

Chani gasps. 

It’s the same golden bracelet he has stored in a box beneath his bed, one he swore to never look at after he ran away from Seokwoo but could never bring himself to throw away. Seokwoo slips the bracelet onto his wrist, looking up at Chani.

“I didn’t attempt to kill you. Rowoon did.” He says simply, and Chani watches as the bracelet glows brightly, but doesn’t shrink to squeeze Seokwoo’s wrist. 

_ He’s not lying. The bracelet would know if he did.  _

Chani’s eyes fill with tears, overwhelmed with too many emotions to process as he pulls Seokwoo in for a bone-crushing hug, sobbing at the sensation of Seokwoo’s arms winding around him to complete the embrace.  _ God,  _ it’s been forever since he’s last touched Seokwoo, and Chani can do nothing more than bury his face into the crook of Seokwoo’s neck, inhaling the smell of petrichor. 

“I missed you so much.” Chani says softly. “I think a part of me always wanted to believe that you would never betray me like that, but I was too scared to face the truth. I didn’t want my worst nightmare to come true.” 

Seokwoo happily sighs. “Thank you for always trusting me.”

“There’s nothing else I could’ve done.”

* * *

Chani takes Seokwoo back to his tiny apartment, and Seokwoo marvels at everything.

“Seokwoo, it isn’t that impressive.” Chani says dryly as Seokwoo coos over Chani’s printed sheets. 

“Chani-ah, I’ve been bumming it around in bushes or sleeping on hard concrete for  _ months _ . You don’t know how happy the sight of a bed makes me.” 

They share some of Seokwoo’s rations for dinner, military-grade meals that he managed to thieve while on the run. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a thousand times better than the rations Chani has stored in the pantry, so he doesn’t complain. Even the presence of Seokwoo makes him feel less lonely — they converse like they hadn’t spent three years of their lives apart from one another. Seokwoo makes dumb jokes and Chani laughs, easing into his touches. 

The warm, bubbly sensation that Chani has always felt because of Seokwoo resurfaces, his heart suddenly feeling full and longing. He doesn’t quite know how to navigate things with Seokwoo now: neither of them bring up their relationship in the past, Chani’s too scared to say anything yet. 

After dinner the two of them clean up Chani’s tiny apartment, and Seokwoo unpacks his few belongings. The sun has already set, and the night sky is an inky noir, dotted with tiny bright stars. Seokwoo sits on the edge of Chani’s bed, and Chani’s heart squeezes at the way Seokwoo looks perfectly at home. Nothing seems out of place, it was like he was missing a part of himself without Seokwoo, and now his life is complete.

Seokwoo was always his missing puzzle piece. 

He beckons for Chani, and Chani obediently makes his way over to Seokwoo, standing in front of him. It’s almost infuriating how tall Seokwoo is, the way he’s still around Chani’s height despite sitting down. Seokwoo wraps his arms around Chani, looking up at him longingly.

Chani glances away, blushing. “Stop looking at me like that.” Seokwoo cocks his head to the side like a confused puppy.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the only person in the entire world.” 

Seokwoo smiles endearingly. “To me, you are.” 

“You sappy idiot.” Chani says, with no real bite. His hands come up to cup Seokwoo’s face, brushing his thumb against Seokwoo’s cheekbone and sighing at the way Seokwoo melts into his touch.

“Chani?”

“Yeah?” 

“Would you let me kiss you?” 

Chani’s pace quickens, the words dying on his throat. “Yes.” 

It’s gentle, and tentative, the way Seokwoo’s eyes flick down and glance at Chani’s lips. Seokwoo’s hand cups Chani’s jaw, the pad of his thumb gently brushing over Chani’s bottom lip. Chani can’t help but close his eyes and happily sigh. It’s been so long since Chani has had physical contact with another human, let alone in a romantic context. 

Seokwoo leans in, pressing a gentle kiss, almost as if he’s holding himself back. Chani whines, frustrated, and moves forward until he’s seated in Seokwoo’s lap. He wants  _ more,  _ and with his new position he grabs Seokwoo’s face with both hands, kissing him hungrily. Seokwoo makes a noise from the back of his throat, reciprocating just as enthusiastically. It feels like an eternity has passed when Chani finally parts for air, pupils blown when he looks at how disheveled Seokwoo looks from the kiss. Seokwoo’s breaths are shallow, and Chani runs a finger over Seokwoo’s slick bottom lip. 

Seokwoo retaliates by manhandling Chani onto the bed until they’re lying down together, legs tangled and gazing at one another. Chani intertwines his hands, unable to do anything but smile softly at Seokwoo. 

“I missed you  _ so much.  _ I can’t even believe this is real.” Seokwoo whispers, almost as if Chani could disappear at any moment. “I never want to leave you ever again.”

Chani simply wraps an arm around Seokwoo’s waist, bringing him in closer until their noses bump against one another. Seokwoo’s presence is so calming, so fulfilling. Chani relishes the emotions, the way Seokwoo touches him lovingly, the way Seokwoo looks at him. The apocalypse killed nearly everything that was meaningful to him, crushing his morale and destroying any semblance of hope he had left.

But with Seokwoo, everything is different. 

With Seokwoo, he finally feels like he’s home. 


	7. animal hybrid au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> puppy rowoon but literally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which rowoon is a big puppy and chani is a kitty 
> 
> while writing this i unintentionally included a lot of parallels to the previous chapter, lol
> 
> also first chapter with rowoon pov!!

“Honey, I’m home!” Seokwoo cheerfully announces, tail wagging enthusiastically. 

It’s cheesy, but it’s almost become a habit hard wired into Seokwoo whenever he returns home from a day of work at the bakery. Seokwoo sets the plastic bag with groceries for their dinner down as he peels off his coat, placing it on their coat hanger. He drops off the bag of groceries in the kitchen before racing to the living room, face immediately lighting up when he sees his boyfriend curled up on the couch. 

A warm beam of afternoon sunshine illuminates Chani’s gorgeous boyish features, and Seokwoo almost can’t stop himself from cooing at how adorable he looks. Moments like these are so precious to Seokwoo: Chani’s in his third year of university and it breaks Seokwoo’s heart whenever he sees his boyfriend pulling all-nighters to finish assignments or cram for exams. Chani’s ears twitch at the sound of Seokwoo’s footsteps approaching, though he continues dozing quietly. Seokwoo can’t believe he’s lucky to be dating someone as gorgeous, sweet, and kind as Chani. It’s almost impossible for him to keep his hands off Chani.

“Chani!” Seokwoo happily exclaims, maneuvering himself onto the couch until he’s lying down and wraps his arms around Chani. “How was school today?” 

Chani makes a sleepy noise, slowly gaining consciousness as he snuggles closer to Seokwoo. “S’good,” he mumbles, “we finished mid term exams today so I don’t have any homework tonight.” Chani twines his tail around Seokwoo’s thigh, almost possessively. “How was work?” 

“The usual.” Seokwoo simply states, pressing a gently kiss to the tip of Chani’s nose, another to his soft cheek, and finally one against his lips. “I missed you a lot, Chani-ah.” He scratches behind Chani’s fluffy ears, enjoying the way Chani purrs. 

“Sleep with me.” Chani pouts, and Seokwoo is humanly unable to deny any request of Chani’s when he uses  _ that  _ face. 

The two of them nap for the next hour, Chani finally rested enough to awaken. He gently pokes at Seokwoo’s cheek. “Hyung, wake up, I’m hungry.” Seokwoo laughs as his eyes open, sitting up and pulling Chani into his arms. “Hey!” Chani shouts in protest when Seokwoo slings him over his shoulder, walking the two of them over the kitchen to prepare dinner. 

Chani can’t cook for shit, so Seokwoo prepares all of their meals. Seokwoo decides to make something special to celebrate Chani finishing his midterms, and grills the beef he bought from the supermarket on the way home. It was definitely pricier than their usual meals, but the way Chani’s eyes light up when he sees the meat makes everything worth it. As Seokwoo cooks, Chani stands behind him with his arms entwined around Seokwoo’s waist. The two of them have more than a ten centimeter height difference, but Chani doesn’t care, burying his face between Seokwoo’s shoulder blades. 

Chani sets the dinner table with the different assortment of side dishes Seokwoo bought as Seokwoo brings over the grilled meat and bowls of rice. As they stand across the table from each other, Chani steals kisses, smiling at how easily Seokwoo gets flustered. 

Dinner is enjoyable, Seokwoo feeling pleasantly warm as Chani tells him about his day, complaining about poorly worded test questions and how one of his classmates would not stop sneezing during the duration of the test. 

Seokwoo only can stare lovingly at Chani, listening to every word he says while occasionally chiming in with comments of his own. He laughs at the face Chani makes when Seokwoo tries to feed him a piece of meat, only grinning when Chani finally gives in and eats the meat. 

They clean up quickly after dinner, and Chani suggests they watch a movie together. Seokwoo chooses a popular blockbuster that they’ve already seen a couple times together, but can’t get tired of. Chani makes popcorn for the two of them, while Seokwoo loads the dishwasher. 

When Seokwoo’s finished cleaning they snuggle up on the couch together, hands entwined and Chani’s head resting against Seokwoo’s shoulder. The soft fur of his ears brushes against Seokwoo’s neck, and his heart grows about 5 sizes when he looks down at his boyfriend, happily enjoying the movie. Seokwoo only happily wags his tail, unable to contain how happy Chani makes him. 

Before the two of them know it, the movie finishes and Seokwoo stretches his arms over his head, letting out a big yawn. Chani’s dozing off, fallen asleep about halfway during the movie. Seokwoo only sighs, watching Chani’s chest rise and fall slowly as he exhales in short puffs. 

“You sleepyhead, you’ve been pushing yourself too much this week.” Seokwoo gently scolds, running a hand through Chani’s hair, noting the way Chani subconsciously leans into his touch. “Let’s get you to bed, you deserve it.” 

As Seokwoo scoops Chani into his arms and carries his boyfriend to their shared bedroom, he can’t stop looking at how peaceful and ethereal Chani looks. He loves Chani so, so much, and Chani will never not make him feel like the luckiest puppy in the entire world. 

“Sleep well.” He whispers when he finally tucks Chani in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't have a set posting schedule for this fic, but expect bi-monthly updates!


	8. animal hybrid au (pt 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is actually a prologue to the previous one! i wanted to further explore chani and seokwoo's relationship, and portray a more realistic relationship rather than one that was overwhelmingly perfect (my initial idea for this chapter was just "haha what if chani was jealous" and it spiraled from there). 
> 
> also none of the biology in this is accurate or correct, but this is an animal hybrid au so i don't think anyone is expecting top notch, scientifically accurate imprinting :^)

Chani vividly remembers the first time he met Seokwoo: he was just a freshman in college, whereas Seokwoo was a senior. They meet through a mutual friend at a mixer during Chani’s first month at college. 

It's not quite love at first sight, but Chani feels inexplicably drawn to the puppy hybrid who towers over him in height, whose laugh is deep and booming and seems to fill an entire room, and his eyes, oh, the way his eyes sparkle and seem to hold the universe's secrets.

It's still considered quite taboo for a cat hybrid to fall in love with a dog hybrid, let alone try to persue a relationship: Chani thinks it's stupid, but it's the societal norm, and there's little he can do. He never found dog hybrids particularly interesting as romantic partners, so the stigma never applied to him, but he feels like his world has been turned on its axis.

Seokwoo makes him reconsider everything he's ever known.

"Hi, I'm Seokwoo! What's your name?"

Chani blinks, surprised at the sheer amount of energy Seokwoo seems to possess. "Oh, I'm Chani." He replies, ignoring the strange tingly feeling that spreads all over his body. His voice is deep, but not quite in the same way as Seokwoo's. Whereas Seokwoo's is like the crashing of waves, foaming against a shoreline, Chani's is the quiet, contemplative rumble of thunder. 

"You're cute, I know we'll be good friends!" Seokwoo smiles enthusiastically, ruffling a hand through Chani's soft hair. It almost catches him off guard — it's not commonplace for hybrids to do such an act, especially if they've just been acquainted with. However, the act is so tender and Chani secretly likes how it feels when Seokwoo scratches his ears, so he chooses not to say anything.

They do become good friends. Best friends, actually. Chani has never quite gotten along with someone the way he's clicked with Seokwoo, though he supposes a large percentage of that can be attributed to the equal amount of interest Seokwoo seems to also take towards him. It's a simple, refreshing little friendship. Chani eats lunch with him every single day, trades his deepest secrets with him, and sometimes abandons his roommate whenever Seokwoo calls him in the middle of the night, whining about how lonely he is.

"So let me get this straight. You guys _aren't_ dating but frequently share the same bed at night?" Sanghyuk demands, stabbing his fork into a tomato and a piece of lettuce. "And you're sure you two aren't dating?"

Chani nearly chokes on a mouthful of rice. " _What?!_ " 

Sanghyuk rolls his eyes. "Don't tell me you haven't heard all the rumours that the two of you are dating. It's practically known campus wide." Chani looks sheepish, pretending to play the innocent card.

"I don't know, I guess I've never thought about Seokwoo in that way." Sanghyuk gives him an accusatory stare, one that says _I don't believe a single word you're saying_ , but he doesn't press further.

Things are fine until Seokwoo gets a girlfriend. 

Three months into their friendship, Seokwoo calls Chani over in the middle of night. Chani moves like clockwork, grabbing his phone and keys, quietly tiptoeing out of his dorm room so as to not wake up his sleeping roommate. Seokwoo lives only a few doors down from Chani, so only a minute passes before he's gently knocking on Seokwoo's door. Seokwoo opens the door, tail wagging to and fro when he sees Chani, dressed in his avocado-print pajamas. 

"Chani-ah, you look so adorable!" Seokwoo pulls him into a hug, rubbing his cheek against the top of Chani's head and scratching behind his ears. Chani turns into putty, purring at how good it feels to be held by Seokwoo. 

Seokwoo's one of the few lucky students who has an entire dorm room to himself, so there's no roommate to judge the two of them when Chani crawls under Seokwoo's fluffy bed sheets and allows himself to be cuddled by a 6 foot tall puppy. "Hey Chani, I have some exciting news." Seokwoo says once the lights are turned off, and Chani can only see the planes of his face illuminated by the artificial street lights leaking in through the window on the other side of the room.

"Yeah?"

Seokwoo tells him about Joy, a pretty little cocker spaniel hybrid he recently started dating, and Chani's heart sinks to the bottom of his stomach. He desperately holds back tears as Seokwoo talks about her, how they met, how lovely she is. 

"Hey Chani, you all right? You've been kinda quiet all this time?"

Chani presses his lips into a thin line. "I'm fine, hyung." 

The next day, Chani tells him he can't sleep with Seokwoo anymore. 

Jealousy is an ugly little thing, a nasty plague that manifests in his heart and spreads out to the rest of his body. Chani sulks, knowing that it isn’t his place to dictate who Seokwoo can and can’t date, but he feels weirdly possessive of Seokwoo. 

“I don’t understand why I’m feeling like this.” Chani complains at one of his weekly study sessions with Youngbin. “Everyone kept asking me if I was okay after Seokwoo got a girlfriend. What’s up with that? I don’t _own_ him, why were people checking in on me?” 

Youngbin looks sympathetic, expression gentle. “Chani-ah, are you _jealous?_ ” His barely concealed amusement makes Chani scowl, looking down at his textbook. 

“ _What?!_ ” Chani angrily pouts. “I’m not jealous. That would be stupid.” Youngbin has _that_ look on his face, the one where he knows Chani is clearly lying but he just smiles, shaking his head. 

“Whatever you say, Chani-ah.” 

Possibly the worst part of it all is when Chani finally meets Joy. Seokwoo brings her to lunch, talking about how excited he's been for Chani to meet Joy. 

It's as if the pieces all fall into place because the first time Chani meets her, he understands just why Seokwoo fell in love with her. Joy is so lovely and sweet and kind, she smiles at Chani and takes a genuine interest in him. It's impossible for him to be upset or jealous, because the answer is so obvious. Joy is perfect for Seokwoo. "See? I knew you two would get along!" Seokwoo cheers happily, and Chani hates how well Seokwoo knows him, how correct he is.

Chani soon becomes good friends with Joy, much to Seokwoo's delight.

Though, some things are too good to be true.

A couple months into their relationship, Joy treats Chani to bingsoo, and he can immediately tell something is off by the worried expression on her face. 

“Noona, what’s wrong?” 

Joy smiles sadly down at her strawberry bingsoo. “Chani-ah, I’m going to break up with Seokwoo.”

Chani nearly spits out a mouthful of shaved ice because that was definitely the last thing he expected Joy to say. “Come again?” He asks, beyond perplexed. “You guys are the perfect couple, did Seokwoo do anything wrong?” 

Joy shakes her head. “No, he didn’t do anything wrong. Quite the opposite, actually.” 

“Then why are you breaking up with him?” 

“He seems preoccupied.” Joy says, swirling her plastic spoon around in her bowl of bingsoo. “Seokwoo loves me, but he doesn’t love _love_ me, you catch my drift? There’s someone else that he cares about a lot more.” She sadly gazes at Chani. “It’s better for the both of us if we break up.”

Chani always thought that he would celebrate the day that Seokwoo and Joy broke up, but he just feels miserable. He knows how much Joy loved Seokwoo, how much Seokwoo genuinely cared for Joy. It feels like a shitty move to even think positively about the break up, so he just comforts Joy over bingsoo and prepares himself for Seokwoo’s reaction. 

Seokwoo calls Chani later that night, and Chani picks up on the first ring. 

“Chani-ah, can you come over?” Seokwoo’s voice comes out as a quiet sob. 

“I’ll be there.” 

It feels so strange, walking over to Seokwoo’s room after so long. He gently knocks on Seokwoo’s door, like he always did, and his heart squeezes when the door opens. Seokwoo’s in a hoodie that’s clearly too small for him, and Chani’s heart nearly stops when he realizes that Seokwoo is wearing _his hoodie._ Dried tear tracks stain his cheeks, and his face is flushed, as if he had just stopped crying before Chani arrived.

Seokwoo opens his mouth, and chooses his words tentatively, quietly. “Chani-ah, can I hold you?” 

Chani softly nods, and for the first time in their friendship, Chani opens his arms, initiating the hug. Seokwoo crumples in his embrace, burying his face against Chani’s hair and letting out a muffled sob. Almost instinctively, Chani’s arms tighten around Seokwoo, a hand tangling in his hair to scratch behind his ears, the same way Seokwoo always did. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. I’m here.” Chani whispers quietly. He’s not the best at comforting people, but seeing Seokwoo makes his heart positively break, and he wishes there was a way for him to instantly cheer up his best friend. They stumble into Seokwoo’s room, a discordant shuffling of socked feet, until the back of Seokwoo’s knees hit the edge of his bed. There’s a tinge of deja vu in the way they navigate their way into Seokwoo’s bed, crawling under the covers together like they always had. 

Chani realizes how much he misses _this._ It feels like a puzzle piece of himself has finally slotted back into place when Seokwoo wraps his arms around his waist, burying his face in the crook of Chani’s neck and crying his heart out. It wasn’t like they stopped being friends after Seokwoo started dating Joy, but their relationship had become watered down, a far cry of what it had been before. Seokwoo babbles on about how he must’ve done something wrong, it must’ve been his fault, because _why else would Joy have left him_. Chani does his best to reassure him, whispering gently into his ear and holding him close. 

When it happens, it catches Chani off guard. Seokwoo sniffs loudly, wiping stray tears away when his pupils dilate, squaring in on Chani like he’s the most interesting thing he’s ever seen. Chani notices this quick shift in demeanor, scrunching his face and just before he’s about to make a comment, it happens:

Seokwoo leans in, and kisses him.

Chani immediately lurches back like he’s been burned. “Seokwoo, no, you just broke up with Joy.” He shakily says, like his heart isn’t pumping with adrenaline and his face isn’t flushed and his brain isn’t firing copious amounts of dopamine. Seokwoo’s eyes widen when he realizes what he’s done. 

“Oh my god, Chani, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that —”

“— hey, it’s okay,” Chani manages, voice still quivering. "Just try to go to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning." He pauses tentatively, before gently carding his fingers through Seokwoo's soft hair. 

He nods obediently, just like a puppy, and Seokwoo's eyes eventually slip shut, dozing off. Chani lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in, staring back at Seokwoo's sleeping form. 

_What the fuck just happened._

Chani doesn't sleep very well that night.

Thankfully, the two of them don't seem to talk about Seokwoo's accidental kiss, and pretend like it didn't happen. A few weeks pass after the break up, and both Seokwoo and Joy seem to have recovered from the heartbreak.

Meanwhile, Chani spends his free time dealing with the newfound information that his feelings towards Seokwoo may be a little more than platonic. That they were never quite platonic to begin with, but he simply always chose to not acknowledge them. His attraction towards Seokwoo grows with each passing day, and so does the magnetic force pulling him towards Seokwoo. It's as if the universe is screaming to him that Seokwoo is _the one_ , but Chani knows how far-fetched the idea is.

Cat and dog hybrids can't imprint on one another. Only hybrids of the same species can do so.

Chani doesn't linger on the thought for too much longer, but it still resides at the back of his mind. It only resurfaces when Chani's having a movie night with Seokwoo.

He realizes how much they look like a couple, how Sanghyuk was right, but it’s always been like this. Chani’s sitting in Seokwoo’s lap cross-legged, with Seokwoo’s long legs wrapped around him and his arms snaking around his torso. They’ve always cuddled together, but it was always considered platonic between them, nothing more, really nothing less. 

There’s suddenly a shift where Chani wishes it could be something more. 

Seokwoo hooks his chin over Chani's shoulder. "Mmm Chani, you've been smelling really good lately. Like flowers and stuff. Sweet." To emphasize his point, Seokwoo presses his nose against the column of Chani's neck, inhaling deeply. He immediately flushes red at how _intimate_ the action is, pushing Seokwoo's head away in embarrassment. "What do I smell like?"

He never wanted to bring it up, but Chani also had to admit that Seokwoo's pheromones definitely were stronger as of late. Whenever Seokwoo walked past him, he caught a whiff of fresh lemon and mint, an incredibly refreshing and relaxing scent. It was just another thought he relegated to the back of his mind, something he didn't want to focus on for too long. 

“Uh, lemons. Mint. I guess?” 

“Woah! That’s pretty cool!” Seokwoo resumes his focus on the screen in front of them, some animated film that Chani’s already lost interest in. A beat of silence passes between them, as if they’re both aware of the very large elephant in the room but refuse to address it. “Hey Chani,” Seokwoo finally says, “do you think we, yanno?” He gestures with his hands. 

Chani stiffens. “What are you referring to?” 

“C’mon Chani, I think we both know what I’m talking about. We _scented_ each other.” 

“It’s impossible. Seokwoo, you know it.” Chani’s voice is suspiciously quiet. “We’re not even of the same breed, how could it have possibly happened?” 

“I read about it online, they, they said that in very rare cases it’s possible. It’s not entirely out of the question.” 

Chani turns his head around to face Seokwoo, eyes searching his face for a hint of humour. He expects Seokwoo to laugh it off as a joke, tell him it was all a prank. There was no way he could be serious. 

Chani finds nothing. Just an honest, vulnerable expression on Seokwoo’s face. 

He almost doesn’t trust his voice. “What does that mean for us then?”

Seokwoo purses his lips together. “I have no idea.” 

Things are weird again.

They’re not avoiding each other, Chani doesn’t feel awkward around Seokwoo, but the possibility of them being imprinted to one another looms above their heads at any moment. Youngbin, always aware of Chani’s frequent shifts in mood, picks up on this almost immediately, and forces Chani to confront the issue. 

“You look down.” Youngbin casually comments during a random outing to the nearby grocery store to pick up snacks. “What’s been up with you, Chani-ah?”

Youngbin also has this incredible skill of making Chani open up to him. It usually works out because Youngbin is incredibly patient and gives out the best advice. 

“I think I may have imprinted on Seokwoo. And he imprinted on me.” They’re picking out packets of instant ramen, and the way Youngbin’s hand freezes mid-air is quite hilarious. 

“I thought that was impossible.”

Chani shrugs. “Me too, but Seokwoo said it’s a rare thing. I did some research and turns out, he’s surprisingly correct.” Youngbin tosses in a pack of seaweed-flavoured ramen snacks into their plastic shopping cart, frowning.

“Have you guys decided on what you’re going to do now?”

“Neither of us want to acknowledge it.”

“Do you want to be in a relationship with him?” 

Youngbin hits that one right on the nail. 

Chani flounders, wondering if he’s going to have a crisis in the middle of a local shopping mart, in the instant ramen aisle. 

“Be honest with me.”

Chani sighs. 

“Yes.”

Youngbin hums thoughtfully. "How long?"

A grimace from Chani. "If we're being real, I think I fell in love with him a week or so after we first met." Youngbin smiles at like, like he's known all along and he's been waiting for Chani to finally come to his senses and admit the glaringly obvious.

"Who was it that brought up imprinting?"

"Seokwoo."

"Okay, so you're telling me that you're too scared to approach the topic of dating to Seokwoo who, to my knowledge: has publicly confessed his love to you several times, even when he was in a relationship. He sleeps with you, has movie nights and cuddles with you, has always been fond of you, and was the person that brought up the possibility of imprinting to you. Chani, it's practically written in the stars at this point." 

"But Joy —"

"— Chani, didn't Joy tell you why she broke up with Seokwoo? What was her reasoning?"

Chani pauses to think for a second. "She said something about Seokwoo caring about someone more than he cared about her." 

The gears slowly turn in his head, and Chani's eyes widen when he comes to the earth-shattering realization.

"Oh my god."

Youngbin looks a little too pleased with himself. "I think you know what to do now."

Chani's a beast of procrastination, but right after he finishes grocery shopping, he's making a beeline for Seokwoo's dorm. He's fueled on nothing but raw adrenaline and an optimistic mentality. It's rare, almost unheard of, for him to show up at Seokwoo's door unannounced, but that's exactly what he does.

His hand hovers over the door, sucking in a breath to calm down his nerves. Chani's never done this before, for the simple reason that he was never interested enough in anyone enough to think about asking them out. He exhales, knocking his fist against the wooden surface.

There was no turning back now. 

Seokwoo immediately opens the door. The shocked expression on his face when he sees Chani is quite endearing, but he doesn't have much time to linger on that thought. Chani reaches out, and takes Seokwoo's large hands in his.

"I need to talk to you."

Seokwoo still looks incredibly confused, but moves aside to let Chani enter, closing the door behind him. "Oh, okay. What's up?"

Chani's heart is pounding in his ribcage in anticipation. 

"I want to try."

"Huh?"

He gestures to the space between them. "I want to try _this_. We imprinted, didn't we? We're technically soulmates."

Seokwoo's openly gaping, as if he can't believe what's happening in front of him. "Chani-ah, are you asking me to be my boyfriend?"

Chani flushes the brightest possible shade of red humanly possible, his tail anxiously twitching back and forth behind him.

"Yes." 

"Chani, you're not joking, are you?"

It sort of ignites a fire within him. 

Chani scowls. "Are you _fucking kidding me_ ? Seokwoo, I've been in love with you practically since the first day we met. I was madly jealous of Joy and I didn't know why at the time, but now I know it was because I wanted you for myself. I didn't realize until you two broke up, and after we imprinted. And you ask me _if I'm joking right now._ " He's frustrated, puffing out his cheeks in anger. "So, what do you have to say?"

He's so vulnerable, having laid out all his cards on the tablet for Seokwoo to see. Yet it's liberating, finally lifting a weight off of Chani's chest. 

"Nonono, that's not what I meant at all!" Seokwoo panics, quickly backtracking. "This is just, really shocking to take in all at once. Chani," he sighs, arms hanging limp at his side, "Chani, I don't think you understand how special you are to me. How special you've _always_ been to me. I thought it was just friendly for the longest time, that I was just protective of you. But now I know it was because I was also madly, desperately, wholeheartedly in love with you." 

Seokwoo's eyes are watering a little, lip quivering.

"Chani, I want to date you. I want to kiss you and hold your hands and tell you how much I love you. You mean everything to me."

He doesn't know how else to react, so Chani takes a step forward, tangles his fingers in Seokwoo's hair like he always has, and brings him down for a kiss. 

It's nothing like the kiss they shared accidentally. Seokwoo's hands immediately wrap around the nape of Chani's neck, gently bringing them closer together to deepen the kiss. He tastes like flavourless chapstick, like stars in the night sky, the pure essence of romanticism. 

It feels honest. Simple. 

It's damn good, but not mind-blowing. It's familial and nostalgic, like the final piece of Chani's existence and soul has slotted into place. His heart absolutely sings, Chani smells nothing but Seokwoo's fresh lemon scent, and it makes his body go all tingly with love.

It's a powerful little word. 

_Soulmate._

Seokwoo parts away, breaking the kiss with a soft brush of their lips. He gazes into Chani's eyes, which are mismatched from smiling, and presses his forehead against Chani's.

"Hybrids like us aren't supposed to be together." He finally says.

Chani just laughs.

"I don't care. I have you, and that's all I need."

Seokwoo captures his mouth with another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _and they were soulmates_
> 
> this is overwhelmingly sappy, but i feel like the ending of this chapter is a pretty good metaphor for my feelings towards sf9. something about them make me feel like i'm at home, i'm so content all the time when i get to write stuff like this. they're so comforting, and i don't really know how else to describe the sensation. after i stopped stanning seventeen, i wondered if there was going to be another group that would fill that void in my heart, and ultimately, it was sf9 that truly completed me. 
> 
> yea this is so dumb but anyways i love sf9


	9. angel au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! long time no update, i promise i haven't forgotten about this lmao, i've actually been writing a lot of rochan but my writers block prevented me from finishing anything i started :/ 
> 
> i had a sudden burst of inspiration to write something super poetic and nonsensical: the image of seokwoo as an angel was too tempting to resist. anyways we have this!! in no way is this an accurate representation of biblical angels, most of this is just my imagination running wild. expect (slightly more regular) updates in the future ahaha

When the clock strikes the twelfth hour of the night, Seokwoo feels a tug within him, urging him to climb out of bed and reunite with the moon herself. As always, she looks gorgeous, even more so tonight: it’s a full moon. The star around her twinkle at him, almost beckoning him to come closer. He slowly slides out of bed, trying his best to remain as quiet and inconspicuous as possible, but of course Chanhee still manages to catch him in the act. 

“Darling? Where are you going?” Chanhee slowly slides upwards, propping himself on his elbows. The silk sheets pool around his body luxuriously and Seokwoo can’t help but think Chanhee looks a thousand times lovelier in the wash of moonlight pouring through the giant window. “Come back to bed.” Chanhee says quietly. 

Seokwoo sighs, sadly smiling to himself. “I thought you were fast asleep.” 

Chanhee snorts, a cute little noise that has never failed to make Seokwoo’s heart restrict. “It’s  _ twelve, hyung.  _ I usually don’t fall asleep until one o’clock.” 

“Go back to sleep, dear.” Seokwoo says softly, despite knowing that Chanhee will most likely not listen to him. He returns his gaze to the warm glow of the moon, reaching his hand out, filled with a desire to grasp at her fertility and security, wishing they were tangible. It’s only been a year since he was exiled, but the pain has barely subsided. The sensation of lassitude is bearable during the day as Chanhee fills him with an energy unlike anything he’s experienced, but his thoughts and imagination runs rampant during the darkness of the night. Seokwoo clenches his hands into fists when the familiar feeling of itchiness settles beneath his skin, his wings screaming to be let out. 

“We both know that’s bullshit, hyung.” Chanhee says. “What’s holding you back?” 

Chanhee knows him so well, has the ability to read him with a striking degree of clarity that no one else has ever possessed. Seokwoo’s knees buckle, threatening to give in on him. 

“I … I can’t. It’s too much. You know that succumbing only means that I’ll never be able to sever the heavenly bond.” Seokwoo gasps out, hunching over and having to hold onto the windowsill to ground himself. The pain is now fucking _ unbearable,  _ choking Seokwoo and squeezing every last drop of his feigned humanity until he’s unable to breathe. 

“Let yourself go.”  _ God,  _ Seokwoo is putty in Chanhee’s hands and Chanhee is well aware of it. 

Those three words are enough to send Seokwoo spiraling over the edge, giving into his most primal instincts, groaning with relief when his wings burst out and unfurl to their maximum wingspan. Three pairs of snowy white wings spread out, filling the width of the master bedroom and emitting a gorgeous golden sheen that fills the room with an otherworldly light. 

Chanhee audibly gasps; the sight of Seokwoo in his angelic form will never cease to fill him with wonder, the image is just as breathtaking as it was the first time. Seokwoo exudes an aura of strength and dominance, the air around him so overwhelming and stifling. It’s almost enlightening to be around a creature of such raw, unhinged celestial power. He slides a leg out of bed, shuffling until both feet hit the wood tiling on the floor. 

“Seokwoo?” 

Seokwoo turns around to face Chanhee. There’s a healthy glow all over his body and Seokwoo looks rejuvenated by the power of his angelic form, his chest rising and falling at a comfortable staccato. 

“Chanhee.” 


	10. model au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter isn't really focused around a romantic relationship ?? but it's more of an exploration/character study of sorts, was really relaxing to write and a fun destressing exercise ^^ anyways im back on my bimonthly updating schedule hahaha 
> 
> also!! this was inspired by one of my all time favourite fics, [어쩌다 마주친 너](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3301250) ! if u like block b or just wanna read a really amazing fic, i'd HIGHLY recommend.

It starts with a rather inconspicuous email, something that doesn’t strike Seokwoo as quite out of the ordinary. He clicks on the unread email, and skims over its contents: some modelling company that he isn’t quite familiar with, though there’s a good possibility that it’s a cover up for a much larger firm, and they go into depth about what they’re looking for. It seems like a simple photoshoot for “promotional goods”, whatever that entails, so Seokwoo responds that he’s interested and is willing to take on the job. The company responds less than an hour later and are so delighted by Seokwoo’s response that they immediately double the amount of pay. 

Seokwoo stares at the number of zeros on screen in front of him, utterly dumbfounded. This is by far the most he’s gotten paid for a photoshoot, and it only makes him wonder _who in the world is he going to be photographing?_

He has a meeting before the actual photoshoot, mainly to go over the concept, clothing, and colours. Seokwoo loves the process of creating a beautiful editorial shot, though the team is incredibly tight-lipped about the main model in question. 

“Do you know who I’ll be photographing?” Seokwoo asks halfway, looking through a booklet of colour swatches. The lead stylist for the shoot, Bae Joohyun, regards him with a reserved look, pressing her lips together.

“We can’t tell you.” 

Seokwoo is perplexed, but doesn’t push further. 

On the morning of the photoshoot, Seokwoo chugs down a glass of iced americano to wake himself up: truthfully, he didn’t get much sleep the previous night. The mystery of his photography subject had pestered him, keeping him awake until the wee hours of the morning. He packs his camera bag efficiently, grabs an extra tripod with him, just in case, before finally leaving his apartment and making his way to the photoshoot studio. He arrives a good hour in advance, just the way he normally likes it, and greets the camera and lighting crew with a 90 degree bow. They set everything up before an important looking man walks into the studio and makes a beeline for Seokwoo. 

“Seokwoo-ssi! It’s such an honour to be working with you today.” The man says in an important sounding tone, and that’s when Seokwoo realizes _oh shit, that’s renowned talent manager Han Seongho_. He’s a little starstruck, but shakes his hand, bowing forward a little. “Your body of work is quite impressive, it’s amazing that we’re able to work with such a well respected photographer today.” 

“Oh my gosh, no, the honour is truly mine.” Seokwoo says, quite humbly. He feels like a deer in the headlights in the presence of such a famous individual. “Do you know who I’ll be photographing today?” 

Seongho checks his watch, shaking his head. “He should’ve been here about five minutes ago, but knowing him, he may be running a little late. My apologies.” He mutters under his breath before texting away on his phone, most likely to whoever the mystery model may be. Seokwoo just dumbly nods, and goes back to playing around with the ISO and aperture settings on his camera. The set they’re working with today is quite simple: luxurious red velvet draped over a prop column which is placed on top shiny marble flooring. It’s quite minimalistic, yet conveys the image of opulence and distinction in a satisfying and effective manner. The deep wine colour should be a nice contrast to all the light silks and sheer fabrics Seokwoo spots on the clothing racks. 

“Hi everyone, sorry for being slightly late — the cab got caught in traffic.” Seokwoo raises his head at the foreign voice that’s just filled the room, deep and resonant, yet simultaneously quiet and reflective. If he was floored by his introduction to Han Seongho, then he’s possibly _mind-fucked_ by the sight in front of him. 

“ _Kang Chanhee-ssi_.” Seokwoo blurts out before his mind can properly catch up with his mouth, bowing for the nth time that day. Chanhee returns the gesture and almost immediately as he stands back upright, an assistant is helping him shrug out of his puffed overcoat. 

It’s nearly impossible to not be completely taken aback. Kang Chanhee may possibly be the hottest celebrity in South Korea at the moment, famous for essentially popularizing the concept of being an idol as well as a respected actor in the film industry. He’s been in several of the most popular television shows in the last five years and has a hefty amount of awards under his belt. Practically everyone talks about his good looks, how he simultaneously manages to look handsome yet adorable at the same time, carrying an aura of youth and vitality to him. 

Possibly even more intriguing than all of that is Chanhee's reputation, or rather, _infamy_ when it comes to him being photographed.

_Chanhee never smiles._

_Chanhee doesn't listen to what photographers have to say, and often will give them the cold shoulder._

_Chanhee rarely shows emotion besides apathy._

Horror stories come a dime a dozen, online forums discussing how stoic and emotionless he comes off in editorial photographs. Photographers anonymously complain about how difficult he is to work with on set in online forums, how he seemingly never portrays sentiment other than a default expression. Seokwoo now only questions how he was able to land a job like this one and prays quietly that he won't crack under the pressure of having to photograph _Kang Chanhee._

“What’s your name?” Chanhee asks, glancing over at Seokwoo. 

“Kim Seokwoo. It’s truly an honour to be photographing you today.” 

Chanhee fixes him with an indecipherable look, only nodding in response. He’s whisked away by a team of makeup artists and wardrobe assistants, brought back in about half an hour. Seokwoo swallows at how stylish Chanhee looks in a sheer top tucked into a pair of loose fitting cream coloured pants, juxtaposing the leather belt with several metal rings that’s slung on his hips. The tabloids really are correct: regardless of how allegedly difficult Chanhee may be to work with, he’s undeniably handsome. Seokwoo has to hold himself back from openly gaping as Chanhee’s heeled boots click against the concrete floor. 

“How do you want me?” 

“Huh?” Seokwoo has to do a double take, wondering if he’s heard Chanhee clearly. 

Chanhee raises an eyebrow, now standing on the set. “For the photoshoot. What do you want me to do?” He asks almost as if he’s challenging Seokwoo, testing to see how good he is. 

Seokwoo is startled, but doesn’t let it show, despite the way his heart is pounding in his chest. He’s not sure exactly why, whether it’s due to Chanhee’s looks or the nervousness that comes with photographing an A-List celebrity, but he doesn’t want to linger too much on these intrusive thoughts. 

“Relaxed, against the marble column. We can start easy, and work our way up to more conceptual poses and backdrops.” 

Chanhee’s face marginally relaxes, as if Seokwoo’s passed the preliminary round of trials. He’s got an elbow rested against the top of the column, shoulders relaxed, making eye contact with Seokwoo’s camera lens. The way Seokwoo has to suck in a breath is a little embarrassing, and he _knows_ Chanhee isn’t looking at _him,_ but feeling the full impact of Chanhee’s gaze on him is … it’s a lot, to say the least. 

To put it simply, Chanhee’s a natural. It’s an otherworldly experience to see Chanhee in his element, doing what he’s best at, and suddenly Seokwoo understands how Chanhee still has a modelling career despite his turbulent reputation. He effortlessly sells the clothes he’s wearing, standing like he owns the entire world, gaze cold and calculated into the camera. Additionally, Chanhee is undeniably handsome, but Seokwoo’s worked with hundreds of equally attractive models so he doesn’t understand why his heart is beating at a million miles per hour. 

Seokwoo snaps a bunch of photos, satisfied with how they all turn out. He prompts Chanhee to change his pose, watching the model work fluidly and adapting to Seokwoo’s request. Chanhee’s dancing background really shows in his modelling work, yet it’s jarring to view the juxtaposition between Chanhee’s relaxed posture with his stoic facial expression.

“Could you show some more emotion?” Seokwoo tries, and the temperature in the room _drops._ Silence blankets the room, the atmosphere suddenly becoming tense. 

Chanhee slightly scowls, lip slightly jutting upwards. “What?” His expression shifts, and Seokwoo’s finger involuntarily snaps some more photos because _Chanhee may be frowning but he’s showing more emotion._ Chanhee is fiery, expressive, staring down the camera with a kindling passion that makes Seokwoo lose his breath. 

“That’s perfect.” Seokwoo manages, breathless. Chanhee’s frown deepens, but Seokwoo is enraptured, shutter snapping with millisecond intervals. _This_ is so much more interesting than the stoic, closed off Chanhee, and Seokwoo is hanging onto every last thread of emotion. This side of Kang Chanhee is infinitely more interesting. 

“I’ve never met anyone like you before.” Chanhee mutters under his breath, but doesn’t say anything further. They try a few more poses with a couple of props, and Seokwoo sees Chanhee’s expression visibly relax. Seokwoo nearly trips on his feet on the velvet draped over the column and spilling onto the ground, causing Chanhee to crack the slightest of smiles. He nearly trips over his feet again to snap as many photos of Chanhee as he possibly can in the moment, capturing the ephemeral rare moment of Kang Chanhee smiling. 

They break to switch outfits, though when Chanhee returns back on set, he’s bickering with one of the stylists.

“These clothes aren’t even tailored properly. I look awful in these clothes.” Chanhee berates, and the stylist seems to shrink under his scrutinizing gaze. “Nothing looks good.” His voice raises, seemingly reverberating against the walls of the photo studio. Seokwoo doesn’t know how he’d react if he was under the venomous wrath of Chanhee’s anger. 

“Chanhee-ssi, we could maybe pin the clothes temporarily? Or we could try some other items on?” The stylist says feebly, cowering in slight fear. Chanhee’s expression suddenly turns _thunderous,_ darkening with annoyance. It’s as if something snapped within him, and it completely catches Seokwoo off guard.

“Forget it.” Chanhee glares, unforgiving and turning on his heel. “I don’t know why I even put up with this shit, fuck all of this, I need a smoke break.” He walks away tempestuously, heels clacking against the floor and metal door slamming behind him. 

The stylist looks at Seokwoo sheepishly, bowing. “I’m so sorry, Seokwoo-ssi.” Her head is hung low. “I didn’t think he would react so negatively.” 

“It’s normal.” Seongho says apathetically. “He’ll get over it. Give him 10 minutes, he’ll be back.” 

Seokwoo is taken back, but unyielding. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go check up on him.” 

Seongho shrugs, looking distant. “You can try. It’s really not worth it though.” 

Seokwoo only nods politely but doesn’t quite listen, rushing out the door and following Chanhee’s steps down two flights of stairs until he spots Chanhee, smoking next to an open window. Chanhee doesn’t seem to notice him or acknowledge the sound of someone approaching, continuing to stare out the window blankly between drags of his cigarette.

“Chanhee-ssi.” Seokwoo calls out, and the look of surprise on Chanhee’s face when he sees Seokwoo is a little endearing. “Are you alright?” 

Chanhee pauses mid-drag, wide eyes blinking back at Seokwoo in confusion. “Why are you here?” He demands, in lieu of an answer, before resuming smoking. 

“You seemed really angry back there, I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.” Seokwoo admits earnestly. 

Chanhee laughs dryly, unbelieving. “You _care_ about _me_? That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard in my entire career.” He lets out a long puff of smoke. The image of Chanhee smoking like he doesn’t give a fuck wearing designer clothing worth thousands of dollars is truly a sight to behold, and he manages to still look devastatingly elegant despite being visibly frustrated.

“I’ve learned over the years that no one really cares about you. It’s just for the money.”

Seokwoo feels a pang of empathy, frowning softly. “That’s not true. I care about you and your wellbeing. I don’t know that much about you but,” He sighs, “Chanhee-ssi, you deserve to be cared about.” 

The switch is instantaneous, Chanhee’s facial features visibly softening. The stoic, coldhearted model is a vestige, now replaced by what could be best described as a tiny kitten. 

“Huh?” 

Seokwoo shrugs. “I said what I said. People should at least have the courtesy to give you the time to day and consider your emotions.” 

Chanhee stubs his cigarette against the windowsill, flicking it off the balcony. “Seokwoo-ssi, you’re so strange. But in a good way.” He laughs to himself, and both the sound and sight are so disarming that Seokwoo’s breath catches in his throat, watching the way Chanhee’s face morphs into a pretty smile. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.” 

“You should smile more.” Seokwoo blurts out, because apparently he doesn’t have a brain to mouth filter around Chanhee. “You look really pretty.” Chanhee is equally caught off guard by this, and Seokwoo swears he sees the tiniest hint of a flush on Chanhee’s cheeks. 

“Maybe I should.” 

Seokwoo manages to convince Chanhee to return to the photoshoot, and the rest of the shoot manages to go without a hitch. The outfit and set are switched a few more times, now sans temper tantrum. Chanhee apologises to the stylist from earlier, and even Seongho looks genuinely surprised at Chanhee’s change in attitude. The change is best seen through the lens of the camera: Chanhee’s posture and gaze have changed, no longer holding the same amount of tension as earlier. He cracks a few more smiles, and Seokwoo thinks those photos are the best and nicest looking. The experience is just a thousand times more enjoyable, the two of them both in their element and playing off one another. 

Seokwoo doesn’t realize how much fun he’s having until the shoot is finally over and Chanhee is getting ready to go off to his next scheduled event. Chanhee looks oddly hesitant to leave, awkwardly approaching Seokwoo at the end.

“I don’t really do this often but, thank you.” Chanhee says, a little out of his element. “I really enjoyed this.” He’s smiling a little, and Seokwoo can’t help but beam, a little flustered. Something about Chanhee smiling triggers a Pavlovian response within him to swoon with endearment.

“It was a lot of fun for me too. Maybe we can work again in the future?” Seokwoo offers, and Chanhee just nods. 

“I really hope so too.” 

* * *

A couple days later, Seokwoo is lounging on his bed and gets a text message from a phone number he doesn’t recognize. He warily presses the notification on his phone, and nearly falls out of bed when he reads the message. 

**[UNKNOWN #]** : hi seokwoo-ssi, this is chanhee 

**[UNKNOWN #]** : i got your number from my manager, but anyways 

**[UNKNOWN #]** : i saw the photo proofs for the magazine today and theyre unlike anything ive ever seen

Seokwoo stares down at his phone in a state of shock. He types out and deletes several messages, attempting to come up with the right one to send. 

**[SEOKWOO]** : oh thank you!! it was fun to photograph you and i’m glad you liked them

Chanhee responds almost instantly. 

**[UNKNOWN #]** : no one has ever really said the things you said to me today

 **[UNKNOWN #]** : thank you so much for caring 

**[UNKNOWN #]** : let’s meet again in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont be like chani and litter (cigarette butts make up a large % of ocean pollution as well as city pollution in general, throw out ur butts to save the turtles)


	11. android au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy cow ... can u believe its been 3 months since ive last posted a chapter update here ... 
> 
> hope u guys enjoy this update ahaha, ive been busy with university n all that jazz so my writing is a lil rusty :') decided to sprinkle in a bit of hwitae into this (and i guess a bit of a reflection on their relationship) as a dedication to my good friend!! if ur reading this u know exactly who u are (hi) 
> 
> also fun fact: i started writing this before watching dokgobin and wrote hwiyoung as an android ... only to watch dokgobin and find out he's also an android in the web series o_o am i psychic ??? anyways i wanted to try out something new with this chapter, hope u enjoy ;)

"Isn't he cool?" Taeyang's parading around his latest technological find, an android named Hwiyoung who looks incredibly aloof in comparison to Taeyang’s obvious enthusiasm. "Androids are all the craze right now, especially since the cost of manufacturing them has hit an all time low. It's never been more affordable to buy one for yourself." 

Hwiyoung is, admittedly, very cool. He looks so life-like it’s downright scary, all his movements and reactions are fluid and characteristically humanoid. Chani just nods, not all that present in the conversation. Hwiyoung is nice looking and he's got all sorts of bells and whistles but Chani hasn't ever been one to jump onto the latest craze. 

"He also functions as an emotional companion." Taeyang says, weirdly emphasizing his words as he takes Hwiyoung's hand in his. A second passes before the implication of Taeyang's words processes in Chani's mind. 

"Oh ew," Chani says sourly, making a face, "I didn't have to know about your sexual life." 

"Hey, it's romantic too!" Taeyang quickly retorts. "We're in love." Hwiyoung seems to react positively to this, smiling happily and leaning closer into Taeyang. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

Chani just looks more confounded. "I don't get it. He's an android, how could he possibly experience love? Or emotions for that matter?" 

Taeyang almost looks offended by that. "Chani, how could you say that." He snaps back, comically covering Hwiyoung's ears with his hands. "That's so mean, you're going to hurt his feelings."

"I can't hurt his feelings if he doesn't have any." Chani mutters under his breath. Taeyang rolls his eyes, sighing.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you should at least try it out for yourself before you go about making bold outlandish claims."

"Sure." Chani says monotonously. "I'll get an android just to prove you wrong." 

His claim seems a lot less threatening when he's standing in front of a human sized cardboard box a couple weeks later. 

The process of ordering an android was surprisingly a lot more streamlined and customizable than Chani had expected. He could alter nearly every feature about the android to fit his tastes, and he had a bit of fun playing around with all the customization options. Yet now faced with the task of unboxing his android and bringing it to life, he's much more apprehensive and worried. He carefully removes layers of cardboard and styrofoam to reveal his creation:

"Hello Master, I'm Rowoon!" 

Chani instantly reels back in shock, frozen in place by the sight in front of him. 

Rowoon is a thing of beauty. He shouldn't be shocked since he's already seen Hwiyoung before, but Rowoon looks so life-like it's startling. Chani wants to reach out and touch Rowoon's perfectly sculpted face, the one he chose in the application process. Rowoon somehow perfectly bridges the gap between pretty and handsome, big eyes blinking back at Chani with a childlike sense of wonder and astonishment. 

He looks identical to a human being, yet he isn't one. 

He must take too long to respond because Rowoon starts to look worried, taking a step closer to Chani. "Master? Are you alright there?" 

"Okay, maybe for starters could we just," Chani's faltering because he doesn't really know the proper etiquette to speaking to an android, "maybe just drop the whole 'Master' thing? It's a bit weird."

Rowoon cocks his head to the side quizzically, eyes widening in confusion. "What should I call you then?"

"Chani." 

Rowoon's face instantly brightens. "Chani! That's such a cute name." 

Against his own will, Chani flushes, angrily looking down at the ground. He wasn’t supposed to have this kind of reaction to an  _ android.  _ This was supposed to be a one-off joke to spite Taeyang, yet here he is, standing in front of his very own android, very confused as to what he should do now. “So, um, what can you do?” 

Rowoon smiles. “Chani-ah, I’m so glad you asked!” He clasps his hands together as if he’d been waiting all this time to say this. “I can perform a wide variety of tasks, from cooking to cleaning to any household chore you can think of! I can also function as a friend, someone there to emotionally support you or cheer you up, or,” he pauses, giving a wink, “I can also be of  _ other  _ kinds of assistance, but only at your request.” 

Chani stares, and instinctively laughs, deadpan. “You’re kidding.” He barely cared enough to thoroughly read through the website when he ordered Rowoon and thought Taeyang’s testimony was partially a joke. 

The unwaveringly positive expression on Rowoon’s face tells him that it’s all true. 

“Well,” Chani says hesitantly, “it seems like we’ll have a nice time together.” 

* * *

The first few weeks are incredibly strange. They’re a period of adjustment, a strange state of limbo as man becomes accustomed to machine. 

Chani nearly suffers from a heart attack the first time he walks back into his apartment and completely forgets about Rowoon, screaming when he notices an incredibly handsome man sitting on his couch. 

“Christ,” he curses under his breath, clutching his rapidly pounding heart, “you scared me there.” 

Rowoon barely looks fazed, putting down his book and tackling Chani into a bone-crushing hug. “You’re back! Oh Chani-ah, I missed you so much.” He buries his face against Chani’s neck, hands wrapped around his waist. Chani hesitantly returns the gesture, trying not to think about how good Rowoon smells (which is strange because,  _ android _ ) and the strange feeling in his stomach.

Rowoon is anything but a nuisance, proving himself to be incredibly helpful around the house, and a nice mood-maker. Chani’s a bit embarrassed to admit he originally solely viewed Rowoon as a maid robot of sorts, but soon finds himself enjoying Rowoon’s company. He’s got a damn pretty voice (to Chani’s frustration, because even though he knows he’s completely artificial, it should be illegal to be  _ this  _ exceedingly flawless in all areas of his existence) and fills Chani’s apartment with the sweet tunes of whatever song Rowoon’s currently into as he cooks them dinner. 

Chani decides to invite Taeyang over for lunch one day when Rowoon’s out running errands, rolling his eyes at the smug look on Taeyang’s face as he opens the door to greet them. 

“Chani! Nice to see you.” Taeyang says, toeing his shoes off at the door. “Seems like I wasn’t wrong about purchasing an android, hm?” Chani sighs in exasperation. 

“Do you really need to rub it into my face?” 

Taeyang smiles. “Yes. Yes I do.” 

Chani makes them tea and serves them some food Rowoon prepared earlier before going out. 

“So,” Taeyang smirks, “have you guys done anything?” Chani groans.

“Why are you so interested in my love life? How about you tell me about you and Hwiyoung.” Taeyang’s expression immediately shifts to something more reserved, simply giving an apathetic shrug. 

“It’s … complicated, I suppose.” 

“I thought it was supposed to be a perfect relationship.” Chani snarks back. 

Taeyang sighs. “It is, in a way. But I suppose androids have their limits.” He says mysteriously, only causing Chani to be more perplexed, but he decides not to push any further. “Anyways, we don’t have to talk about my life, let’s talk about how things are with  _ you  _ and Rowoon.” Taeyang’s expression cheers up again, mouth settling back into a smirk. 

Chani frowns. “It’s also complicated. I get weird feelings around him.” He balls his hands into fists, feeling weird about confessing his emotions. “I don’t know, he’s so  _ touchy  _ all the time.” 

Taeyang quirks an eyebrow. “Sounds like the early development of a crush to me.” 

Chani puffs his cheeks out. “I do  _ not  _ have a crush on  _ Rowoon _ .” 

Taeyang shrugs. “Suit yourself, Chani.” 

* * *

Curiosity killed the cat, or at least gnawed away at its brain until it couldn’t focus on anything else. 

Chani caves into all the questions inside his mind, unable to stop thinking about what Taeyang implied the last time they hung out and does a Naver search on  _ “can androids experience love?”  _ The results are disappointing, to say the least, solely showing him results from popular media of androids that fell in love with humans, eventually dying from unrequited love. He then searches up the company he bought Rowoon from, scrolling through the android’s product description only to leave empty handed once again. 

“Hey, what are you looking at?” 

Chani nearly jumps up in his seat, gripping his chest. “Christ, Rowoon, you need to stop doing that.” Rowoon looks apologetic, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Chani’s head. Rowoon’s kisses are a recent development, something that only causes Chani to be more confused about his feelings. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He leans in to get a better look at Chani’s laptop screen, squinting a little at the tiny words. “You’re reading about …  _ android affection?” _

Chani feels a little embarrassed. “Yeah, I just,” he chokes a little on his words, “I dunno, I guess I was curious.” Rowoon hums thoughtfully, scanning the content in front of him.

“I do experience affection though! As in, I know that I love you a lot.” He smiles, tilting Chani’s chin upwards to press a kiss to his nose. The strange feeling in Chani’s chest exponentially grows, but he still feels dissatisfied at Rowoon’s answer. 

“Have you ever felt love before?” 

Rowoon laughs a little. “Why are you so curious?” 

“I just always thought that androids couldn’t experience strong feelings of affection, or at least  _ genuine _ forms of it.” Chani admits truthfully. “I guess having you around caused me to reevaluate many things.”  _ Many things indeed.  _

“It’s fine, it was a dumb question anyways.” Chani says, and that seems to be the end of the conversation. 

* * *

It seems like Rowoon’s sole purpose is to make Chani’s life a confusing, perplexed living hell of sorts, as Rowoon only seems to become  _ more  _ affectionate after their conversation. With each passing day, it becomes more and more difficult to deny his glaringly obvious crush on his android, and it reaches a climax when Chani’s leaving university one day to walk back home. He’s chatting with Taeyang about homework when an undeniably recognizable 6 foot-something figure approaches them, smiling and waving ecstatically. 

“Chani-ah! Taeyang!” Rowoon bounds towards them like a hyperactive puppy, enveloping Chani in a hug. 

In an instant, everything seems to slot into place. Chani’s brain overrides the logical complexities of falling in love with an android and simply accepts it as fact. It’s as if a shield has finally been pulled away from his eyes and he’s able to see the reality as it is for the first time. An overwhelming amount of love and affection for Rowoon pours into his heart and soul, and in a moment of catharsis he simply acknowledges it. 

He’s in love with Rowoon. 

He fell in love with an android.

“Hello? Earth to Chani?” Taeyang remarks, and Chani snaps back to reality, flushing. 

“Sorry, I just,” he glances over at Rowoon, staring at his pretty face and lingering on the soft curve of his mouth, heart pounding in his chest, “got distracted for a second.” 

Taeyang nods, unbelieving. “Uh huh. See you two, get home safe!” 

Rowoon takes Chani’s hand in his as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, perfectly slotting together. The walk back home feels excruciatingly long, Chani nervous beyond belief as he tries to piece together his emotions and whether or not he should even confess to Rowoon. 

_ I should probably confess. There’s no way he doesn’t also feel something for me, otherwise he wouldn’t kiss me so often and act so affectionate.  _

_ What if he sees all of that as platonic?  _

_ There’s no way.  _

The thoughts incessantly gnaw at Chani’s insides, fighting against one another. 

_ C’mon you just have to take a leap of faith and confess to him.  _

_ What’s the worst that could happen?  _

They get back home and have dinner as usual, Rowoon amicably chatting with Chani and asking about how his day was. Rowoon talks about some cute animal videos he saw online and the sweet potatoes he was incredibly tempted to purchase at the supermarket. Chani complains about how unreasonable his teachers are being with the workload and the new choreography he’s learning for his dance team. It’s painfully domestic; they aren’t even dating but already act like a married couple. 

After dinner, they wash the dishes together and clean up the dining table as usual. It’s been a few months already and they’ve fallen into a rhythm, a perfect harmony of synchronization. Rowoon puts the dishes away as Chani finishes wiping down the table, Taemin’s new song quietly playing in the background on Chani’s phone. 

“Hey, can I talk to you about something?” Chani says, voice small and slightly timid. He’s nervous beyond imagination and his heart is beating at a million miles per minute but he wants to confess. 

Rowoon gives a perfect smile as he places the last place back into the cupboard. “Of course Chani-ah, what is it?” 

Chani quietly psyches himself up, balling his hands into fists in an attempt to subside the anxious feeling in his chest that slowly spreads to the rest of his body. “Do you remember when I asked you about if androids could experience love and affection?” 

Rowoon nods, albeit confused. “Yes? Chani-ah, what are you trying to say?” 

He inhales. 

“Rowoon, I like you a lot. I’ve liked you for awhile but didn’t want to acknowledge my feelings.” He’s looking down at the floor, too terrified to meet Rowoon’s gaze. “I just wanted to know if you felt the same way towards me.” 

Chani pauses, a few seconds feeling like the expanse of eternity. 

Rowoon’s lack of a response causes the anxiety within him to eat him out from inside. 

“Rowoon?” 

Timidly he looks up, and instantly regrets his decision. 

Rowoon’s usually sunny expression is replaced with a blank one, eyes seemingly hollow and dead, looking back at him with an apathetic look to his eyes. All traces of emotion have been wiped off his face. 

“I’m sorry.” Rowoon simply states. 

“What?” Chani barely can manage out the word. 

Rowoon stares into his soul, unblinking.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that input.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry lol (not sorry)


	12. inception au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two updates in two days ... im on a mf roll
> 
> btw u dont need to have seen the movie to read this chapter! ive made a [simple twitter post](https://twitter.com/PEGCHANGM1N/status/1321911841816281091?s=20) summarizing the basic premise of the movie and some key ideas you should know before reading.
> 
> for those of u who have seen inception: apologies for the gratuitous use of wave imagery, i couldn't help myself. u can also probably tell the _heavy_ influence from the movie. as always, enjoy ~

Seokwoo wakes up to his arms bound behind his back, a gag sloppily shoved into his mouth and a strip of fabric covering his eyes and shadowing his vision. His brain attempts to piece together how he ended up in this position, but struggles to come up with anything. The air reeks of mildew and has a distinct smell of must: Seokwoo presumes he’s most likely ended up in an abandoned warehouse of sorts and begins to panic. 

The sound of boots against concrete flooring is unmistakable, and Seokwoo cautiously sucks in a breath as the figure approaches him, closer and closer. His heart pounds against his ribcage and he wants to scream so,  _ so  _ badly, but the fear is far more overwhelming and silences him. The world seems to go still as the sound of footsteps immediately halts and Seokwoo can hear the soft exhales of the stranger’s breathing. 

“Well well well, what do we have here.” A deep voice cuts through the silence, rumbling like the crashing of waves against a beach shore. Seokwoo’s knees go weak at the sound and he already knows he’s gone for. Delicate fingers deftly untie the blindfold around Seokwoo’s eyes, letting the piece of fabric drop to the ground. 

_ Christ.  _

Does the universe hate Seokwoo with a burning passion? 

He squeezes his eyes shut, angrily cursing inside his head. Words could not even possibly begin to describe how  _ fucking  _ attractive the man standing in front of him is. A white collared shirt with the top few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to show off his forearms, tucked into fitted black slacks over thick soled combat boots. Suspenders that stretch across the expanse of his torso and an expensive watch circling his wrist. 

Seokwoo tries to scream, but is muffled by the gag in his mouth. The stranger smirks at him condescendingly, quirking his head to the side. He looks far too cute to be malicious, and yet here he is, holding Seokwoo hostage. 

“Okay, okay,  _ fine. _ I’ll take your gag off if you stop looking at me with that expression.” His delicate, pretty hands reach up to tug the gag out, dropping it to the floor in the same manner as the blindfold. 

“What do you want with me.” Seokwoo immediately snaps through gritted teeth, feeling his back make contact with the wall behind him, cornered by the handsome stranger. “I’m insured for over 10 million dollars. There are people already tracking me down. You don’t stand a chance.” 

The stranger fake laughs, a dry and mocking tone. He’s a head shorter than Seokwoo but somehow seems far more intimidating and infuriatingly attractive. “Mr. Kim, you may not believe me, but I’m actually here to help you.” 

Seokwoo frowns. “Help me?” The stranger smiles, saccharine and phony. 

“Kang Chanhee, nice to meet you. Tell me, do you know anything about extraction?” Seokwoo’s frown deepens, feeling a smidge offended.  _ Does he think I’m an insolent child that doesn’t know anything?  _

“Cut to the chase, Chanhee.” 

“Mr. Kim, you’re currently being targeted by a group of highly skilled extractors that plan on stealing secrets about your father’s business. I’ve been hired by your father to help coach you through an extraction and keep the information inside your head secure.” 

Seokwoo’s eyes widen, head spinning. “Am I in a dream right now?” His world starts spinning, heartbeat quickening once again. 

“Hey, hey, hey, I got you. Everything is going to be fine.” Chanhee places a hand on Seokwoo’s shoulder reassuringly, helping him ground himself. It’s such a stark contrast to his sharp tongue that Seokwoo experiences emotional whiplash but finds himself submitting to the gentle touch. “Take it easy now, you don’t want the dream to collapse in on itself. Deep breaths.” 

Seokwoo follows on command, inhaling and exhaling as Chanhee’s instructed him to. His eyes slip shut, head resting against the concrete wall behind him, slowly but surely regaining control of himself and slipping into a more relaxed state. The dream re-stabilizes itself, and suddenly Seokwoo doesn’t feel half as nervous as he did. 

“There, there, you got it.” Chanhee says, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips. “Good job, Mr. Kim.” 

Seokwoo flushes against his will, staring down at his feet. 

_ This is absurd. This is not the right time to be developing a dumb crush.  _

Luckily for him, he doesn’t have to linger too much on his feelings, as the door to the room suddenly bursts open, a man appearing in the doorframe. The sounds of bullets ricocheting in the distant background are imminent and terrifying. 

“Kang! We have to get a move. They’re closing in on us.” 

Chanhee’s face curls into a scowl, cursing under his breath. “Shit. We need more time.” 

The man shakes his head, chin length chestnut hair framing his face. “Change of plans. We have to go. Now.” 

Seokwoo exchanges a nervous look with Chanhee. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Sorry about this, I’ll explain it in more detail once we’re in a safer location.” 

Then without warning, Chanhee grabs Seokwoo’s arm, roughly pulling him along as he and the other man make a mad dash out of the warehouse and into a white van, Seokwoo grunting as he’s forcefully shoved inside the vehicle. The dream starts to shake again, and Chanhee must feel it too because he places a hand on Seokwoo’s shoulder again in an attempt to calm him down. 

“What the fuck is going on?!” Seokwoo cries out, nearly toppling to the floor of the van as it suddenly speeds forward, the sound of the engine roaring in the background. He’s paralyzed in place with fear, trembling as Chanhee slowly approaches him, as not to scare Seokwoo any more. Seokwoo doesn’t realize how close they are until their faces are a few millimeters apart, Chanhee’s breath fanning against Seokwoo’s face. 

His heart starts pounding, but for a much different reason this time. 

“Maybe this might help.” Chanhee mumbles. 

Chanhee’s eyes flick down to the soft swell of Seokwoo’s bottom lip. 

“Can I?” He’s already got a hand gently cupping the side of Seokwoo’s cheek, and the only thing running through Seokwoo’s mind is  _ holy shit, I didn’t think things were going to end up this way.  _ Seokwoo nods, and Chanhee leans forward, closing the gap between them. 

The kiss he presses to Seokwoo’s mouth is uncharacteristically soft and comforting, and he finds himself drowning in the sensation. Chanhee’s other hand comes up to cup the back of his head, pulling him in closer, deeper, further down. 

For a moment, all Seokwoo can hear is the crashing of waves against a shoreline. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my specialty is writing nonsensical plot and characters


	13. four ways to say i love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inspired by [moll's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TpLoz/pseuds/mellifluous) 100 ways to say i love you challenge! im using the exact same [prompt list](https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/tagged/list) but decided to choose only four of them.

Chanhee’s dragged roughly into the 90s themed diner by two of Seokwoo’s henchmen, digging his heels into the ground as they push the glass door open. No one bothers to look up at the scene they’re making — this _is_ Seokwoo’s diner, after all. Chanhee never understood why Seokwoo had a penchant for the aesthetic of American diners in the 90s, but he doesn’t exactly care enough to ask. 

They unceremoniously toss him into the cherry red booth seats, upholstered in a slippery vinyl material. Chanhee knows what a sight he must be: bloodied lip, a gnarly bruise on his left cheek and a few all over his knuckles, hair matted down with blood and sweat. It almost makes him want to scowl at how immaculate Seokwoo looks in front of him. 

“You need to stop picking fights with the wrong people.” Seokwoo says cooly. 

Chanhee snorts. “That’s rich, coming from a mob boss.” 

“Chanhee, you’re young. You have _potential_. You don’t have to go down the path I chose.” 

Chanhee grits his teeth, digging his fingers into the edge of the table. “I’m twenty. And I sure as hell didn’t come here just to be lectured by you.” He’s about to get up from his seat, but Seokwoo fixes him with a look. 

Gentle and understanding, yet commanding. 

“Sit down.” 

Chanhee groans, rolling his eyes, but he sits back down. “Fuck you.” He snorts, looking off to the side. “Stop giving a fuck about me, I can handle things by myself just fine.” 

Seokwoo sighs, face falling a little. 

“Here.” He pushes forward a plate with a burger sliced into halves and some fries tossed to the side. “You can have half.” 

Chanhee glares at the burger like it’s said something offensive to him, but the sound of his stomach grumbling is unmistakable. His basic human needs are beginning to sway his decision making. 

He snatches one half of the burger before Seokwoo can retract his offer. 

“Thanks.” He grumbles, taking a bite. Maybe swipes a few of those fries, too. 

Seokwoo cracks a small smile. “No problem.” 

* * *

Seokwoo storms out of the charity gala his father’s holding, fuming with anger as he pushes through the double doors of the museum his family rented out for the night. It infuriates him to no end, the false glitz and glamour of a world he’ll never understand. 

Outside, the frigid nighttime air nips at his cheeks, a welcome distraction from the fiery heat inside his heart. The cityscape spread in front of him is a smudge of gray against an inky night sky, lit up with neon signs, fluorescent lights, and LED billboards. It’s pouring like cats and dogs, the rain seeping into every crevice of the city and casting everything in an even gloomier mood, drenching Seokwoo and the suit that cost him a neat four thousand. 

“Hey, you alright?” Seokwoo follows the direction of the voice and notices a man waiting for a taxi at the bottom of the steps, umbrella in hand. He’s dressed in an oversized parka, ripped jeans and an old t-shirt, but the first thing Seokwoo notices about him is how soft his caramel hair looks and the strange feeling that blooms in his chest. The stranger can’t be any older than a college student, Seokwoo presumes. He must be going back home after a night out with his friends. 

“Not really.” There’s no use in lying to a stranger, Seokwoo supposes. “I’m trying to get out of here.” 

“You look really wet and uncomfortable there,” the stranger walks up the museum steps, peeling off his parka when he reaches the top where Seokwoo’s standing. It feels like two completely different worlds intersecting for the first time. “Take mine.” 

Seokwoo looks at the jacket being offered, feeling oddly touched by this stranger’s generosity. “You sure?” 

“Yeah, you look like you need it right now.” 

“But what about you?”

The stranger looks down at his t-shirt and laughs. “I’ll be fine. Here, I’ll give you my number so you can return it to me sometime.” He pulls out a permanent marker from his backpack, scribbling his digits onto the back of Seokwoo’s hand. “There! Just text me when you get back home, or whenever you want to return the jacket.”

“Thanks.” Seokwoo says. If it wasn’t so cold outside, he’d probably be blushing. 

“Oh, that’s my ride,” the stranger says, as a yellow taxi pulls up to the side of the street, “I’ll see you around …” 

“Seokwoo.” 

The stranger’s face blooms into a smile. “See you around, Seokwoo.”

Seokwoo looks down at the Sharpie ink on his hand, reading the name. 

_Chani_. 

* * *

Lazy Sunday mornings are the best, tender quiet moments shared between Seokwoo and Chani. It's raining outside, the white noise of the rainstorm oddly soothing as the two of them make breakfast before migrating to the couch. Chani's got his head on Seokwoo's lap, his boyfriend idly playing with his hair and the soft fur on his kitty ears. Moments like these don't come often, given Chani's university workload and Seokwoo frequently taking shifts on the weekend — every second spent together is treated lovingly. 

"You're so cute." Seokwoo muses to himself, smiling wider when Chani's face flushes at the compliment, hands covering his face. 

“Shut up.” Chani scowls, but there’s no real anger behind his words. “Speak for yourself.” He loops his arms around Seokwoo’s neck, gently tugging him down so that their faces are a few centimeters apart. They’re close enough that Chani can see the blemishes and pores on Seokwoo’s face: a fool would go so far as to call them imperfections, but Chani sees nothing imperfect about Seokwoo’s face. It’s natural and it’s beautiful. 

“Can I kiss you?” Chani asks, breathless. 

Seokwoo looks starry-eyed. “Yeah.” 

Their mouths slot perfectly together, lips softly grazing against each other as they kiss. It’s painfully tender and gentle, filled with so much warmth and love that neither one of them can breathe. Seokwoo’s got his hands cradling the sides of Chani's face while Chani smiles into the kiss, palms resting against the back of Seokwoo’s head. 

Seokwoo’s the one that breaks for air, and when Chani looks up at him with a pout, Seokwoo laughs a little and runs his hands through Chani’s soft hair, scratching at the base of his cat ears. It’s enough for Chani’s eyes to slip shut, purring at how good it feels. 

_This,_ Seokwoo thinks to himself, _this is what home feels like._

* * *

The adrenaline kick wears off by the time General Kang returns to the base, exhausted and worn out from a patrol. There’s been news circulating of the Red Force doing experimentation on a team of dreamsharers from China. There’s also been news on how those dreamsharers managed to escape. Chani is determined to find and rescue them, but it feels like an impossible task. 

Seokwoo rushes over to him, pulling him into his arms and burying his face against Chani’s neck. “God, I missed you so much. I was so worried that you were going to get hurt.” 

Chani instantly melts into Seokwoo’s touch, slumping against the warmth and strength of his chest. One hand comes up to tangle his fingers in the hair at the nape of Seokwoo’s neck. “I missed you too. You know I was going to come back.” 

“I know. I was just so scared, but that made me realize something.” 

“What?” 

Seokwoo smiles warmly. “How precious you are to me. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you, but it also made me realize that no matter what, no matter what universe we live in, we’ll always find eachother again.” 

Chani’s breath catches in his throat, heartbeat jackhammering. 

“I look at you and I feel like we’ve lived a thousand lifetimes together.” Seokwoo continues, eyes beginning to water. “I look at you and I feel like we were able to find each other in a thousand other universes and lifetimes. We may not have been the same Seokwoo and Chani, but we were together, and that’s all that matters.” His voice chokes up by the end of his sentence, overwhelmed with emotion.

“I love you.” Chani blurts out, not realizing that he’s suddenly crying as well. His hands are fisted into the material of Seokwoo’s shirt, holding him closer. Seokwoo presses a kiss to his mouth, smiling.

“I love you too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy cow, it's finished. 
> 
> thank you. thank you so much to anyone who's read this far, who's only read a chapter, who's left a kudos or a comment, or anyone who's simply just enjoyed reading this. i started writing this out of curiosity: it was during a time when i was starting to really fall in love with sf9 and thought it would be fun to write some silly little oneshots on the side. flash forward to now, and this fic is nearly 27,000 words long. it's been such a crazy yet unforgettable journey, and this really was the fic that inspired me to start writing again, catapulting me back into a hobby i once loved as well as making me fall more in love with rowoon and chani. 
> 
> why am i choosing to end this series? don't get me wrong, i loved writing every single chapter so much and getting to explore so many new ideas, but i'm ending this series because i want to pursue newer and greater projects. this is being released on the last day of 2020 as a way to properly bid farewell to this project that is so near and dear to my heart. have a wonderful new year, and thank you so much.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading hehe, i hope you have a lovely day (♡´❍`♡)*✧ ✰ ｡*
> 
> [main twt](http://twitter.com/PEGCHANGMIN) / [sf9 fic twt](http://twitter.com/PEGCHANGM1N)


End file.
